We see a lot of words

Hey guys!

Welcome back to Too Many Books to Count! I hope you all had fabulous weekends, filled with rest and relaxation… far unlike what I experienced. I’m exhausted, and the week has only just begun.

Before we get started today, I want to give a shout out to one of my biggest fans, my big brother, Anth! Today’s his birthday, and he’s one of the coolest guys you’ll ever meet. Happy birthday, brother! I hope it’s great, and that your year is as awesome as you are.

So this week, we’re continuing to talk about what it means to be a writer, what it is that writers really do, and I have the perfect topic for today. Perfect, because I went through this whole process literally two days ago. I know exactly what it’s like.

You sometimes feel like reading is the last thing you’d ever want to do… but you read anyway.

As writers, we’re told time and time again that we have to read, we can’t not be reading, there’s always something that we should be reading. But when you’re writing all the time, sometimes it’s hard to get up the gumption to read. And if you’re also mid-edit, then it’s even harder to pick up another book.

Why? Because we already did that today.

See, right now, I’m about a third of the way into a new book, tentatively called Collide. I’m also about a third into the edits of the next in the Druid Novels, Mynidd. And I’m also trying to read Orson Scott Card’s Speaker for the Dead. If you’ve ever written, edited, and read at the same time, then I’m sure you know how I feel.

Sometimes, I just don’t want to anymore.

I spent the majority of last week editing, with a little bit of writing on the side. The weeks before that were also spent editing a project for RAD Writing. Later this week, I’ll be editing submissions for Mavguard (if you haven’t gotten your submissions receipt yet, let me know!). All while still writing Collide, and all while still trying to read this amazing book.

That’s a lot of time spent with words.

The thing that nobody tells writers, is that it’s going to get old, and it’s going to get old fast. You’re going to get bored, doing what you do all the time. Especially if you make a career out of it.

Right now, I feel like all I do is stare at words on a screen or words on a page. That’s all I do, all I think about. And that’s really boring, if I’m being honest.

But you know what? I do it anyway.

Because despite how bored I feel, despite how much I want to walk away and go do something else, I know that this is what I love. This is the thing I signed on to do, and deep down, in my heart, I enjoy it. Right now, it’s old. It’s rote. It’s dull. But in a couple days, it might not be anymore. And that’s what I’m building toward.

So I keep writing.

I keep editing.

But most of all, I keep reading.

I even bought some new books over the weekend.

[love]

{Rani Divine}