Reading Between the Lines by Bea Tifton

 

I try not to be judgmental. I don’t always succeed, but I do try. One thing that drives me crazy, though, is when people find out I’m a voracious reader and say, “I love to read. I just don’t have time.” To me, that’s like saying, “I love to breathe, I just don’t have time. “

I get that not everyone loves to read that much, but here’s the thing. If you truly want to find the time to do something, you will find the time. I know I’m preaching to the choir here, dear avid readers, but just in case, here are some tips to squeezing in your reading time.

 

1. Keep a time diary for one week. Most people would be amazed at how much time they waste. I have a friend who is glued to her phone. She picks it up constantly, and soon, she’s lost in the rabbit hole of answering every email, scrolling through the Internet, or reading Facebook. There are times for these things. But if you do it without thinking, you probably spend way more time just randomly using your phone or tablet than you realize.

 

2. Use waiting time or down time. Ride the train to work? Take a book. Have an appointment? Take a book. Waiting in line? Take a book.

3. Put boundaries on your time. Some things will never be finished. Yes, it’s important to have a clean home, but there is always something to move around, clean out, etc. Emails? Set a time and stick to it. Schedule in reading like anything else you do and don’t look around guiltily thinking, I should be cleaning out that junk drawer right now. 

 

4. Don’t overschedule. I have a friend who is a delight to see, but you have to look fast. She belongs to every committee, serves on every board, and is so busy rushing to the next thing, I don’t think she ever really experiences where she is. We have a culture that admires and even worships busyness. People brag about how busy they are. But is that really such a good thing? Pick a few things that you truly enjoy. Like reading. And don’t feel guilty. If you don’t fuel up your car, eventually, it runs out of gas. 

 

 5. Work smarter, not harder. Can you make a bigger batch of that chili and reheat it another night this week? Are there things you can combine or steps you can skip and still get something done? I’m not talking about sacrificing quality, but sometimes, we dither or don’t think about the big picture when doing something.

I know that everyone truly has a big load to carry, but reading is feeding your mind and your soul. It’s not wasted time or a frivolous activity. Just like anything else, we need to make the time to have the time.

Happy reading!

                                                                               

 

Photo Credits from Pexels:

List: Anete Lusing

Woman in Blue: RF._.Studio

Woman Cooking: RF._.Studio

Woman on Roof: Pixabay

Woman with Leaf: Andrea Piacquadio

Woman on Bench: Joy Deb

                                                                                               

Diary of a Part-time Writer ~Sherri Easley

 

Today was a work holiday for me, so as most days off- I cleaned house. On Sunday, I had a small mishap- I put too many potato peels down the garbage disposal, resulting in a minor plumbing disaster. I unstopped the pipes and put them all back together, but I had small pieces of potato peels everywhere like my sink threw up so there was a lot to clean up.

 I can’t believe we are halfway through the year… and my book still isn’t finished. It is very close- just a few loose ends, but something still isn’t just right. Hopefully, this month…

 I have really enjoyed writing this book and the research that went along with it. As with my other book, A Love to Call My Own, this book has recollections from growing up in a different day and time. Even though I grew up in the sixties, the area where I lived was like a land forgotten.

Growing up, we had a neighbor who cut hair. His name was Willie Martin and even in the sixties, he charged only two bits for a haircut. That is when I learned how much two bits actually was worth. Mr. Martin also sold watermelons and always seemed to have plenty of kittens to play with while I waited for my daddy and brother to ‘get their ears lowered’ as my daddy called it. 

I was blessed with such bold and memorable people in my life. I think much of my recollection was because there were no other kids to play with, so I spent a lot of time with adults.

 So, while I am still deciding where fate is going to carry Emma June, here is a little teaser from the book Stars at Night- hopefully out this summer.

 

When Emma Daniels woke on this sultry September morning in 1942, leaving town by noon never entered her mind. If it had, she would have dressed better and packed some of her belongings, at least fresh underwear, and a change of clothes.

Rubbing the ragged hem of her yellow flour sack dress between her fingers, she noted that buying new clothes must be first on her list when she reached her destination.

Like most Saturdays, Emma had ridden the five miles into town with her papa in his old farm truck. Papa was going to see Mr. Martin to ‘get his ears lowered’. Willie Martin had a barber’s chair in the back of Haney’s store and for two bits you got a haircut, a shave and all the news from three counties. Most of the men who gathered couldn’t afford the haircut and shave, but came just the same to hear the news and tall tales.

Papa was notorious for his outlandish yarns and vivid exaggerations. However, everyone knew they were all in fun and would cheer him on. Emma and Grace often giggled about the notion that women folk gossiped, but more juicy stories, legends and tall tales came out of that back room than any women’s gatherings either had attended.

 

HOT NEW RELEASE!

By Caroline Clemmons

Hello  Summer! Like many of you I’ve heard from, we skipped right into hot weather. I know many of you love hot weather and the activities that go with it. While I prefer air conditioning, I enjoy looking outside at our lawn. Hero and I watch the squirrels, birds, and critters that wander through our back yard.

Part of our pleasure looking at our back yard is because we grew up in West Texas at a time when trees were not that common in our part of town. FHA loans required five shrubs and one tree per home.  That’s what my family home had until my folks added a few plants that included roses, a couple of crepe myrtles, a cherry laurel, and a pyracantha.  Mother added petunias and zinnias from seeds.  Oh, and the first year there we had cotton come up in our front flower bed. Before our subdivision was built, the land was part of a cotton farm.

Petunias

Our neighbor gave Mom seeds for a plant she called Snow on the Mountain. Daddy and I were warned not to harm those seeds. She and I waited eagerly for them to grow. When they did, my dad laughed. He said, “That’s milkweed.” Poor Mom! For a few weeks, when we’d go for a Sunday afternoon drive, Daddy would slow by a field and say, “Look at the snow on the mountain.”

Hero’s dad built their house and I don’t remember any shrubs, just a few flowers. His family had a large vegetable garden and a few fruit trees. Hero’s mom had a gift for growing plants. I’m sure she could have stuck a popsickle stick in the ground and it would have sprouted. She loved flowers outside, and she had a collection of houseplants as well.

When out eldest daughter was born, she was three weeks late. Our mother’s had worked out a schedule and Hero’s mom was coming for the birth and then my mom—who had to arrange her vacation from work—would come two weeks later. Hero's mom came on schedule to be there for the birth--but our daughter didn't show up. I had a sad looking African violet in the kitchen. For one thing, there was no window in that kitchen. Made no difference for Hero’s mom's care. That violet perked up and bloomed happily while she was there. Sadly, when she went home, the poor violet succumbed under my care.

I got better at growing flowers, but now I spend most of my time at the computer. (You see what I’m doing here, don’t you?) One of the fruits of my computer labor is my current release, A BRIDE FOR CODY. This is book 9 for the Mistaken Identity Mail Order Bride Series conceived by Cheryl Wright with a cover designed by V. McKevitt of Black Widow Designs. It’s a sweet western historical romance that I hope you’ll try. I loved writing about Orlena, a strong woman who has to work around her absent-minded professor uncle’s mistakes. For once, his goof saves the life of a child they're babysitting. This time, it means he and Orlena are also in grave danger. Well… you’ll have to read what happened.  Find it here: https://www.amzn.com/B093FYY4FZ

 

I hope you’ll read all of the Mistaken Identity Mail Order Bride series:

Book 1 – A BRIDE FOR JAKE, by Cheryl Wright

Book 2 – A BRIDE FOR NOLAN, by Margaret Tanner

Book 3 – A BRIDE FOR WES, by Patricia PacJac Carroll

Book 4 – A BRIDE FOR RILEY, by Kathleen Lawless

Book 5 – A BRIDE FOR WILSON, by Elissa Strati

Book 6 – A BRIDE FOR ADAM, by Marisa Masterson

Book 7 – A BRIDE FOR LANE, by Lisa Prysock

Book 8 – A BRIDE FOR QUENTIN, by Zina Abbott

Book 9 – A BRIDE FOR CODY, by Caroline Clemmons

Until next month, happy reading!