A Decisive Moment In the Life of This Reader

I've been ripping through the TBR lately, as you've probably noticed from the giveaways that have been hanging around on the blog. I've been continually victimized by polar vortices and because of this have made leaps and bounds forward in writing, reading and knitting. I also may have become slightly anti-social and stopped wearing makeup.

But I'm not sure that last bit has anything to do with the weather.

In any case, as I plow through my pile of ARCs I've also been wading into more weighty tomes. I'm a fan of the classics and I've recently rediscovered a less-well-known author of British parlor-room-and-Parliament drama, Anthony Trollope. If you have a spot in your heart for Dickens or Thackeray I highly recommend delving into Trollope as well.

The title I just finished - CAN YOU FORGIVE HER - is the first in what's called the Palliser novels by Trollope. I grabbed an old tattered paperback at a library sale some years ago. I love well-worn, cheaply made books. I really do. The pages are like onion paper, the print is smudgy, and there are various fingerprints all over the thing. All four corners are feathered from who knows how many pairs of hands rubbing their thumbs on the edges while they hope and pray that the wellborn women they're reading about make the right choice of husband. Sigh. Yes, even I fall prey to such things when couched properly.

So having escorted one such lady to the proper decision, I'm happy to move on to the next title - PHINEAS FINN - when I discover that the overly-handled set of paperbacks I grabbed on a whim a few years ago doesn't have that one. It's an injustice and an inconvenience so I tromp up the stairs from my library, up to my flannel-sheeted bed and burrow in to order a copy.

Except... I don't really have to. Because I can download it. For free.

Now I'm in a pickle. A few minutes ago I'd been grumbling under my breath about inconvenience and here I find that I can have the words I'm searching for delivered to me. Right now. For free. But... my iPad doesn't feather on the edges when I grip it during tea-time with a rascal, and the only fingerprints on the shiny screen are my own. What's the fun in that?

On the other hand, I'm also a highly practical person and I'm unsure I want to spend money on something I can have for free. So I hit up some lovely book swapping sites - Bookmooch and PaperbackSwap - only to find that I appear to be the only person in the world with a Trollope addiction.

It looks like I'll be spending money in order to fill out my Palliser set. I'm fine with that. Spending money on books is a good expenditure. Except... I can spend $9.00 on a brand new paperback and have it delivered for free because I'm an Amazon Prime member, or I can spend roughly the same amount of money and wait extra time for shipping because I'm buying used.

Yes. I am essentially volunteering to wait longer and pay for a dirty book.

I guess I just learned something about myself.

In Which I Unabashedly Praise Adult Males Who Unabashedly Read YA

No really, I'm not kidding.

Something I've learned as NOT A DROP TO DRINK makes it way into the world is that my fan base has a very strong adult male contingent. Yes, really. One of the coolest experiences I've had so far as an author was to have my own work quoted back to me - and it was male dialogue coming from an adult male, wanting to know how I could write a man so well. And that was one hell of a compliment.

Recently my brother-in-law broke his wrist and was spending his downtime in the local bar / eatery with a group of winterized farmers. Having been laid up for awhile, the b-in-l had decided that he might as well read my book. And oddly enough he read it in two nights and really, really liked it. So he mentioned this at lunch with a group of farmers - none of them under 30 - and over the course of the conversation, each reluctantly shares that they too, had read it... and really liked it. In fact, my b-in-l returned to me with a list of book related questions from the group.

I really can't tell you how happy this made me.

Don't get me wrong, I've had lots of teen fans and adult women tell me they liked the book as well. But the longest and most in-depth conversations I've had about my book have been with adult males. In person, over email, through Twitter and Facebook, adult males are telling me how much they enjoyed reading a YA book with a female main character.

And that is so awesome.

Then Life Got Interesting

I am a princess in a castle. It's true.

Granted, this princess hasn't shaved in a while and I won't be tossing my tresses out the window for anybody to climb because they're a touch greasy at the moment and that would be embarrassing. And this is exactly what isolation does for your social concerns. It doesn't matter what I look like, because nobody has seen me for four days and it looks like I'll be adding another two to the calendar.

Extreme temperatures and some seriously high wind have turned Ohio into a bit of a tundra and the road where I live isn't exactly a high priority. So, I'm pretty stuck. My dad can't even come plow me out himself with the tractor because the fuel is gelled up. Yes, it's that cold. They're saying wind chills could get as low as -40 tomorrow, and it doesn't matter whether I mean Fahrenheit or Celsius because at that level of cold it's the same thing. Yes, really. Science, you know.

Last night I was awake when the front blew in at 1:30 (mostly because sleep patterns mean nothing when you're a hermit) and it came rolling in at about 50 mph. I have a two story house and I felt it shift. Not the first time I've felt that, but it's still pretty remarkable when your bed moves ever so slightly because of something going on outside.

So what am I doing?

I've produced all the extra content that will be in the paperback of NOT A DROP TO DRINK when it releases in August, I've tacked quite a few thousand words onto the WIP. I've re-watched all of Sherlock, caught up with American Horror Story, tuned in to Downton Abbey and watched The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. And then because apparently I'm a misplaced Brit I read the first half of THE HOBBIT and some Anthony Trollope. I caught myself speaking with an accent the other day.

Don't ask who I'm talking to.

Today... well, today I'm thinking about teaching myself how to play bridge. It's something I've always wanted to do and I guess I've got the time.

If you see me on Twitter have pity on me and talk to me.