Addicted to Books?



My Living Room Bookshelves

Books, books and more books. Like most readers, I have zillions of books and they can be found all over my house. On bookshelves, in boxes under the bed, in stacks in the closet, in smaller stacks gracing tabletops. Books are everywhere.

I figured out the other day that I have enough books to keep me reading for at least the next thirty years, assuming I keep reading at my current pace. So why do I keep buying more books? Because I have to. There is always another book I have to own, I have to read, I have to love. Addicted to books? Definitely.

My favorite authors keep writing more books, so I have to buy those. Then I keep finding new-to-me authors that I fall in love with and have to buy their books too. So the cycle goes on and on and on.

I've always worked in high stress jobs. So every time I had an extra stressful day at work I'd go buy a book or two during my lunch break. All my lunch money went into books. I stayed skinny and my bookshelves bulged. The books kept me grounded and calm. I could always escape into the wonderful world of books.

Now look at it from my husband's perspective. He doesn't love books. But through the years he's learned to deal with and tolerate my "addiction to books." Every time we moved, which was numerous times through our working years, he graciously (usually) loaded my boxes of books onto the moving van. I have to admit he did grumble a bit that my books weighed a ton (probably more than a ton). I'd always promise to reduce my number of books by taking a few bags' worth to the local library. It was always a minuscule amount compared to all the books I owned.

Now that my husband is retired, we'll probably stay in place, which means I can keep adding more books to my already over-crowded bookshelves. No, I'm not an extravagant spender. Retirement means a reduced book budget, which means I'm a bit more selective than before.

Of course, the answer to a reduced book budget is buying eBooks to read on my Kindle. I've had a Kindle for a year and a half now. I have the Kindle Keyboard 3G. Just like my bookshelves, my Kindle is bulging. It's filled with free classics. Every classic I read through the years and every one that I've always wanted to read. There are also free books from Amazon's Best Sellers Top 100 Free lists. Many of these are from authors I've never read before. Then there's bunches of backlist books from old favorite authors and new books I must have at the touch of a few clicks. I honestly believe the Kindle was designed with the "book addict" in mind, because I can buy a book any time of day or night. I've been known to make purchases at 3:00 am.

Now that we've come to the conclusion that I'm addicted to books, what about you? Now's your opportunity to admit that you too are addicted to books. I hope you'll attest to your book addiction and comment below. What kind of books do you have to read? What books/genres fuel your addiction?

BAYOU BLUES AND OTHER SORROWS is FREE for 2 Days, January 21st and 22nd

BAYOU BLUES AND OTHER SORROWS  is a FREE Amazon/Kindle eBook for Two Days, January 21st and 22nd.  Please be sure to take advantage of this two day promotional offer.

Here is the Amazon/Kindle link to BAYOU BLUES AND OTHER SORROWS. You'll be able to read a free excerpt of the book and/or get your free copy.

http://www.amazon.com/Bayou-Blues-Other-Sorrows-ebook/dp/B0066BJ0TY/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_4

BAYOU BLUES ... is a collection of eight short stories and eight poems.

The short stories are: "Harry's Garden," "Checking Out," "A Kiss is Just a Kiss," "The Night of the UFO," "Earthquakes," "Faded Love," "I Love You, Joe Montana" and "Old Dogs Need Love Too."

The poems are: "Bayou Blues," "Cartwheels," "Sweet Lips of Time," "Barefoot," "In a Cafe," "Sunshine and Promises," "Tumbleweeds" and "The Turtle."

BAYOU BLUES... has an Active TOC (Table of Contents), which means you can click on the titles in the TOC to go to the short story or poem that you want to read. So you can read the short stories and poems in whatever order you want. This is a really cool feature which is now found in many eBooks.

As an author, I'm thrilled to have ePubbed four of my books in 2011, of  which BAYOU BLUES AND OTHER SORROWS is the latest. This book is enrolled in an Amazon/Kindle program called KDP Select, which allows the book to be offered as a free download for five days out of every ninety day period. So January 21st and 22nd are the first two FREE days for this book. 

BAYOU BLUES ... will not be offered for free again until February 15th for one day only and then for the final two days in March. So if you're anxious to read BAYOU BLUES ... then this is the time to download it onto your Kindle. If you don't own a Kindle, you can download the eBook to your PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry or Android Phone after you download the free Kindle Reading App. Here's the link for the free App:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=sv_kstore_1?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771

I'm excited to have BAYOU BLUES ... be part of this promotional program. If you miss out on the free days, members of Amazon Prime can borrow the book for free. Otherwise, BAYOU BLUES ... is only $1.99 to download onto your Kindle, PC, etc. I have to admit that's a bargain price for a whole book.

I hope you will take advantage of the opportunity to "buy" BAYOU BLUES AND OTHER SORROWS for FREE. I hope even more that you will enjoy reading the short stories and poems you'll discover inside this book.

Share the Love

It has come to my attention that we, as authors, need to "Share the Love." In this cut-throat publishing industry it is too easy to become self-centered and self-serving. Of course, we want our own books to come out on top of the pile, but what in the world would we do up there all alone?

Maybe we all should re-read Dr. Seuss's "Yertle the Turtle" and remember how easy it is to topple the one at the top. Now where am I going with all this?

As authors we are, first and foremost, readers. We love books. Otherwise we never would have gotten into the business/love of writing in the first place. So we devour the books we love, but rarely tell others how much we love those same books. We tend to keep it all to ourselves and then hope that all those wonderful words rearrange themselves and come out in our own writing.

I'm just as guilty as the rest of us when it comes to soaking up all those wonderful words. I can only hope that once in a while I'll write something that others will love and maybe want to emulate? In the meantime, I read because I love to read and write because I love to write.

Now here's the real reason for this particular blog post. I've noted over and over again that those who "hate" one book or another are quick to let the whole world know of their dislikes. While those of us who love a certain book tend to keep it to ourselves and don't "share the love" with others.

Why is this? Why can't we sit down and let others know how much we love one book or another? It's not that hard to do. It only takes a few minutes out of our very busy days. But doesn't it feel good to say something nice about another every now and then?

My mother taught me "That if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." I've tried to adhere to that all my life. There are plenty of things I don't like out there in the world. I try not to pass on all that negativity and strive to look at and share the positive. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we all tried to do that?

I'm not saying that I'm more of a "do gooder" than someone else. Believe me, I have plenty of faults, just like the rest of us. But I do try to concentrate on the positives in life. I try to let others know when they've done something good or kind or wonderful or brilliant.

So here's the deal, and the primary reason for this post. When we read a book we love, let's not keep it to ourselves. Let the whole world know we liked it or loved it and why. Remember, it only takes a few minutes to "share the love" with others. Only a few little words to put a smile on the faces, and warmth in the heart, of those who read those very same words.

Before Christmas I was Tweeting that one of the best presents to give to an author is a nice review. Well, Christmas is over, but that doesn't mean we need to stop giving those presents to our favorite authors or those authors we've just discovered and think we can grow to love.

Try it. Write those few words of praise, words of love, and see how you feel. It'll give you a warm tingly feeling knowing that you've "shared the love" with others just like you.

Happy New Year!

The New Year 2012 snuck up on me. How did it get here so fast? I swear that Thanksgiving was only a couple days ago and Christmas was just yesterday. Did I get lost in time somewhere? Did I spend too much time on the computer?

Well, 2011 was a very good year for me. I fulfilled a lifelong dream of becoming an author by ePubbing four books between August and November: "Outback Love," "Jetting Away," "Moon Over Madness" and "Bayou Blues and Other Sorrows." I guess that is why the year zipped by so fast.

"Jetting Away" went free on Amazon October 27th and from that date on I've been on a roller coaster ride. To date, over 20,000 people have downloaded a copy of "Jetting Away." For weeks it was on the Best Sellers Top 100 Free ebook list on Amazon and then for weeks more on the Best Sellers Contemporary Fiction Top 100 Free ebook list. What an exciting ride for a new indie author. I can't thank you all enough for getting "Jetting Away."

In addition to the excitement on "Jetting Away," "Outback Love," my contemporary romance novel, was on the Best Sellers Contemporary Romance Top 100 Paid ebook list for a number of days. Needless to say, I was on Cloud-9 for all of those days.

In the midst of that roller coaster ride, I ePubbed a collection of eight short stories and eight poems, "Bayou Blues and Other Sorrows." The date, 11/11/11, just seemed like a perfect day to bring out a new book. Unfortunately, "Bayou Blues..." is off to a slow start. However, it's now available as a free ebook to members of Amazon Prime. This is a book I've worked on for a very long time and am so pleased to finally have it out there. Writing poetry and short stories was my first love before writing novels.

November and December have been months of mostly dreaming and some writing. I've been working on several different ideas for some new novels. I managed to write partials on some of them and have hopes of finishing and ePubbing them in 2012. For now, I'll just say that I think you'll enjoy the novels I've been dreaming about and writing. If all goes well, I should have a new contemporary romance novel out before spring.

Many thanks to everyone who bought my books from Amazon, Barnes&Noble, Smashwords, Apple, Sony, Diesel and Kobo. Many thanks too to those on Twitter who re-Tweeted my many Tweets, mentioned me on Twitter, and/or chose to Follow me on Twitter. Thanks too for the very nice reviews I've received on my books on Amazon and Barnes&Noble.

In the meantime, best wishes for a Happy, Healthy, Peaceful and Prosperous New Year for all.