Reading to cure writer's block
Boy did I dissapear for a while there. Sorry, my friends. It has been mostly work, there was an insane amount of stuff to do and just since about a week ago things have finally calmed down. I haven't even had time to put up pictures of our Halloween Party time in LA. I'll try and share them later, for now, on to book and writing talk.
Since about November I've been on a complete block. My brain just can't focus on anything and I get to write as much as 2 pages tops, and then it drops dead. That's not good for the trade, specially if you want to do it, but you know your brain just wont cooperate. But that's ok, it happens to everyone, is not the end of the world. So what do I do in between? I read of course!
Because I'll be honest. Whenever I'm actually writing, I can't read a thing. I can't concentrate in a book, because if I do, my ideas will just fly away, so I keep away from books... and that doesn't work out too well either. It's hard to balance both of them when you think about it.
Anyway, since I've abandoned the writing for a bit, I thought writing an entry to my blog would also count, so let me tell you about reading challenges. I started doing them just last year, and every time I keep saying 'no more challenges, this year I'll read whatever I want', and then an amazing challenge comes along and that's it. This year I tried doing an 'Insane Genre Challenge'. Let me just say it didn't work out exactly as I wanted, as I'm just 2 weeks away for the year to end and I'm missing 3 more genres. But well, I did my best, and I did cover some that were out of my comfort zone.
And for next year, there is a 'Beat the Backlist Challenge'presented by Novel Knight. The whole idea is to read books that have been on your TBR list, or on your shelves, for a long while. Books released on 2017 are forbidden. That's it. Very simple really, and much needed because I have a whole stack of books I haven't gone through yet. some as old as when I was still in High School. There is also a mini challenge for you to earn points for you chosen Hogwarts house. I'll be competing for Ravenclaw!
So far I only signed in 20 books, because I honestly have no idea how that will play out. I don't want to try and overtake too much, because I know I'll be tempted by new releases, or books I'll buy in 2017 (which I'll try to avoid, as that is not the idea, the idea is to read the ones that are accumulating dust). The good thing is that I can adjust my list any given time during the year, so I can add books if I feel like it.
And in the middle, I just hope my inspiration comes back soon. I've been dealing with a lot of health problems lately, mostly migraine related, so that has taken a lot of energy out of me. But hopefully I'll be back in my feet soon enough and I'll get back to my keyboard, writing stories away.