Reading, its something all of us do everyday. It’s almost as easy as breathing. You’re reading this, whether you sought out this blog or happened to stumble upon it during the endless time scrolling the internet. You may have read an email for work, or that text from your friend or loved one reminding you of some plan or other. It’s part of our everyday lives. But, how many of us simply read for pleasure? Do you read to unwind or is it simply part of the everyday grind, a thing you must do as an inevitable part of your day?

I’m one of those people who would sooner pick up a book than flick the switch on the TV. It annoys my fiance to no end these days. The amount of TV shows we have fallen behind on in the past year because I have retreated back into my love of books. There are some he simply shrugged his shoulders and carried on watching without me. Ones he knew that my interest in was waning anyway. Others, ones I had been watching long before we met, that I had introduced him to. Well they fell by the wayside after I fell back in love with the written word. 

It started when my hands began to hurt a lot more than they used to. I couldn’t quite hold my paperbacks for as long as I would have liked, and eventually I pestered him into getting me a kindle for my birthday. That tiny little amalgamation of metals and plastics has made my reading so much easier. Though like every good bibliophile nothing will ever truly beat the feeling of the pages, the smell that is so uniquely books. Paper and ink.  But with two kids, two cats and a house to run there wasn’t much money for books. I wasn’t working much because of my pain levels and it sucked we were relying on mainly his income. While we had food, a roof over our heads and everything important we needed, we didn’t have much money for the luxuries. Books weren’t a priority so I very rarely bought them whether they were physical copies or ebooks.

I discovered http://www.bookbub.com a free website where you can find so many titles for free or even drastically cheap. I found a lot of books that I have really come to enjoy through them and a lot of them were free at the time I downloaded them to my kindle. I went on to buy other books from authors I have found through Bookbub and have very rarely been disappointed by a title or author. I’ll talk about some of those books in other posts later on down the line.

Then around this time last year I’d finally left my job about eight month prior because of my bad health. I was getting bored, there wasn’t a lot to do with the kids at school and nursery. So I was reading even more. Sometimes devouring a whole book in a day, it had become a little bit insatiable. I was rambling on about this plot twist, that character. Family and friends looking back on it now were looking at me like I was a little crazy. But then again I always got rather invested in the fictional worlds on the pages even from a young age. Don’t believe me? I’ll introduce you to my mother I was an endless source of exasperation for her when I was a kid. I’m surprised she doesn’t have shares in waterstones because of the amount of books she has bought me over the years.

So I was in a reading frenzy still a lot of these books, all mostly ebooks were bought cheap or free after endlessly scrolling Amazon, Kobo and Bookbub. Then Christmas came and I got money and a few smaller gifts from my mum and my fiances mum. All the money I got went onto Amazon gift cards and I spent nearly all of that, maybe close to £100 on books. I seriously do not regret it though looking at that figure I may have to admit I have a problem. Those books saw me through from around Christmas day, to mothers day here in the UK which is in March.  But also between Christmas and the beginning of January, reading hadn’t become enough of a distraction. Things started to float around in my head characters I wish I could see in books, ideas for plots and then without really thinking about it I started to write. Within four weeks I had written close to 60,000 words and I loved that first draft like it was my third born child. In a way I still do though it’s matured now and be redrafted four times, maybe more. I’ve queried that book to agents and publishing houses a few times and I’m still nowhere close to seeing it in print like I decided I wanted to after I finished the second draft.

I’ve worked on other things since I finished the final draft of that book. I started the sequel to it and I’m onto the third draft of that and I feel good about it. I also started for Nanowrimo a MG/YA fantasy novel. Though I like to procrastinate and get distracted and I’m seriously thinking I’m not going to complete Nanowrimo this year. But thats okay I’m having fun writing and I’m having fun reading. I’d love to see my words out there someday for people to read and enjoy and maybe even earn a little money from them. When that happens I’ll be happy to see a goal I have long aspired to completed. To see my words out there for others to enjoy.

But while I wait for that day I thought why not blog, so I can write. Something other than fiction for the days when I want to write but the imagination doesn’t quite want to work. So I’ll share my experiences of writing with you all. My thoughts on the books I have read, where I found them how much or how little I paid for the pleasure of reading it. But most importantly, I’ll give you my honest opinion on it. Always if I thought it was amazing and the best thing I’ve read to date I’ll say so. If it was a bit of a lemon I’ll tell you that to, If I absolutely hated it I promise to tell you! But I’ll always urge you to read it for yourself because my taste is not the only one and what I enjoy and dislike may not be the same for you.

I’ll see you all real soon.

Stephie x.