Confession #10,001 (for today)

Jenny over at Life is Not a Cereal wrote a post yesterday morning “Doing What My Sinfilled Nature Craves.” I have a horrible tendency to research subjects to death — so while “I am a writer” or at least wanting to be, I’ve been researching all the books I should read to make me a better writer. I have been shopping online. I had a Writer’s Digest shopping cart full of books to order, when God nudged me to check the updates on some of the blogs I read. That’s when I read Jenny’s post.

I immediately felt bad about wanting to buy all these books, when 1) we don’t really have the money for it and 2) I have several (probably more than 30) books on my shelves unread. If I read a book, it’s usually to learn something (like web hosting, programming, manuals, non-fiction type stuff) — and even then, I doubt I’ve finished many if any. There’s no telling how much money/time I’ve wasted on buying books, not reading them or only reading a chapter or two before the information goes out of date.

I have a short attention span. I hop from blog to blog, from website to website reading this article and that article.

Yesterday afternoon, I went to my book shelf and picked up a fiction book I’ve had there for probably about 4 years. I got it free when I joined the Women of Faith membership at a conference, put it on a shelf, and never even read the back cover.

But I just did something I have not done for 8 years. I finished a book. It was amazing! It’s opened my eyes to so many possibilities — not only for my writing, but for sharing these books with others.

I know you’re dying to know the book I read, aren’t you? It was “A Time to Embrace” by Karen Kingsbury. She is an outstanding author. This is the first book I read of hers and it definitely will not be the last. This book was nothing like what I expected — I guess I was thinking it was a “cleaned-up” version of a romantic novel. It was so much more than that and it takes a lot to draw me into a book and keep me wanting to read more.

What I’ve read (in this book and about Karen at her website) has made me want to follow my dream of writing even more. Step back slowly from the computer — away from the internet — and read a good book.