"Be gentle with your words, your heart is listening.” ― Carol 'CC' Miller
I wrote the bones of this post five years ago this week for another blog. Let me just say that I'm really sorry nothing has changed for me. I'm a little horrified that five years ago I was complaining about writing slow and ... guess what ... I'm even slower now!
No, I'm not going to talk about politics. I would, and I often do, but not on this blog. But it's politics that have made me long for the gentler time I mentioned above. It's the stream of hatred and name-calling and let's-offend-or-hurt-anyone-we-can that makes what is unarguably a hard time so much harder even than it has to be.
If you are affected--as I obviously am--by the political climate, how is it influencing your reading and writing? I'll tell you about mine, but I'd love to hear about yours, too.
My writing is already godawful slow. That has come with age for me, and I don't like it, but it's better than stopping, so I live with it and it's not getting any faster as I go along. However, I enjoy it in ways I never have before. I don't worry about pleasing an editor, although I hope I do. I don't do it for the money--which is a good thing--so speed isn't an issue. So, yeah, I just write. And enjoy. And find comfort. And gentleness. Not everyone wants comfort and gentleness in the stories they tell, but I do.
2025 - I'm still doing this, although I'm also listening to many new audiobooks. I get attached to certain writers--Sarah Morgan is one--and listen to both their recent releases and their old ones. I also still have auto-buys like Nan Reinhardt, Marta Perry, and several others but admit I am becoming notoriously hard to please.
Although this time in our lives is anything but gentle, its rendering in books is still a wondrous gift from authors to the readers who need it. I thank them all for it.
Although this time in our lives is anything but gentle, its rendering in books is still a wondrous gift from authors to the readers who need it. I thank them all for it.
I have to admit, though, that it's just me. I realize thrillers and horror and books-with-mean-people are very popular. I'm so glad they're available and that everyone is free to choose what they want to read. They can even do it without having to say how much they hate one genre just because they prefer another one.
So what are your preferences? Does my quest for gentleness and my nearly year round reading of Christmas books drive you crazy? Do you wish Stephen King and Lee Child could clone themselves? Is the memoir your choice?
You know, just asking. If you answered five years ago, I won't remember. 😀
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Since you're here, I have a Christmas in July special. The Dark Horse is an old favorite, available now for 99 cents.
In THE DARK HORSE, widowed Chloe Brewton has made a life for herself in Christmas Town, Maine, teaching literature and being the drama coach at the high school. Although she’d loved her husband and their life in the army, she doesn’t really want to start over with someone else, but when she meets Major Row Welcome, in Christmas Town to spend the holiday month with relatives and decide about his future, she feels stirrings of old wishes for happily-ever-after. The attraction is mutual, although the last thing Row wants is to try marriage again, plus he’s about as interested in having a family as…well, he isn’t. But then there’s Connor Michaud and his three younger siblings. Oh, no. What now in Christmas Town?
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Urban Fantasy is my current love. I’ve read horror, comedy, sci-fi, and adventure.
ReplyDeleteFantasy is really big now, isn't it? It travels from genre to genre, too!
DeleteYou know, even though I do prefer the gentler novels and stories, I can also get into a great romantic suspense, political suspense, and thrillers. I think it all depends on my mood. That said, reading is how I escape, so no matter what it, I'm depending on it to take me away.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you there. I have just become awfully (and I mean that in a very real way) hard to please.
DeleteI've been doing a LOT of rereads the last couple of years. I read mostly M/M and M/F contemporary romance. I also read biographies and histories of subjects I'm interested in. I have several auto buy authors. Like you, I want to read about kindness and love. Also like you, I am also more particular in what I like!
ReplyDeleteIt limits us a lot, doesn't it? And I feel as if I'm beings so unfair to other authors by not giving their work a proper chance.
DeleteGood post. I've been reading about Poland and its history, since my grandparents immigrated from there. After I read how horrific the peoples' lives were for centuries, I have a greater understanding of the stamina of Poland's inhabitants. Like you, I'm tired of politics and only hope and pray that we can return to a normal government and nation. However, I just heard a statesman I admire admit that it will take years to undo and return to normalcy again.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think that's true. It's going to take a long time. It makes me even more sad than angry. I'll bet that's interesting reading, but so sad they (maybe like us in the long run) had to gain their stamina in such a hard way.
DeleteMy therapist told me to treat my inner child like I treat my dog--positive reinforcement, patience, and speaking kindly. I think politically we are just like Great Britain when it lost its empire and became just a small island.
ReplyDeleteGood point.
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