rereads & research

novels don't take long enough to read, and that's a problem. i was telling my husband yesterday that i try to read multiple books at the same time not to sound smart...but so the stories will last longer! he proceeded to say "yes, ashlyne, that is correct. when you are reading one book, you are indeed not reading the other." gee, thanks, hubs. :)

we had just left barnes and noble at vanderbilt, and it was glorious. i bought two books. one repeat, one new. i am trying to work through all the novels i remember liking in my twenties. all the initial emily giffins, kristin hannah's, elin hilderbrands, etc. i remember them well because i needed an escape back then. i wanted to have a different life (no not dramatically, but i was in college, hadn't found mr. right, you know the drill), so i read them and soaked up the alternatives my characters had. 

for the third time, i remember liking the books (loving them), but it's been long enough where i don't remember all the details. that's the best place to be in!! because now i can go back through and be surprised all over again! and the final reason i'm excited is that i read them when i wasn't pursuing a life as an author. back then, books were recreation...so now when i'm reading, i'm so looking with a different eye, a "how did you do this and why did i like it so much" eye. 

i was talking to my mentor lindsey as i normally do, and she was saying she spent more time reading articles and such when she wasn't actually working on her manuscript because it almost felt like cheating if she was reading...because reading novels like the ones you write (or unlike) seems like too much fun for it to be work. that's the beauty in being a writer!! you get to read during your day and not feel badly about it! it's actually detrimental to your own writing if don't! 

best. news. ever. 

so i finished baby proof by the way, and i absolutely loved it. i have come to the conclusion that i was way too young when i first bought it to have appreciated it. like i said in my last post, it was about babies, and although i loved babies, i had no idea how complicatable (not a word, but i'm ok with it if you are), they could be since i wasn't in that spot of my world. it's one thing to know the issues might exist, but it's another to be old enough where you are surrounded by it on a daily basis (by your peers, not just the ''older kids''). 

so, read baby proof, definitely. great job, emily. as usual. 

now i'm off to start one of my rereads: something borrowed. emily's first! 

and then i'll get into this list! 

ahr.