I did something I thought I'd never do.
I thought I'd never succumb.
I stood on my soapbox of battered paperworks and screamed, 'Never!'
I have a Kindle.
Yes. A Kindle. And actually, it's very good. It was a gift from The Boyfriend who gave me the get-out of allowing me to say I didn't like e-readers and that he could return or sell it if so. But the gesture, the intention to help me be more easily distracted, find solace once again in books, was so sweet, so meaningful that I tried it and love it.
It solves the practical issue of book storage. Too many books enter my home and when I move, 50% of the heavy boxes are books. It's a joy to be able to carry dozens (one day thousands) of books in my bag, rather than commit to one paperback I can read quickly and its cover gets shredded by pulled in and out of my bag. It keeps me occupied on those long, long bus journeys and any shift work that comes my way. The Kindle books are a bit cheaper than hardcopies, which on a budget helps. But I want authors to make as much money as they can in such an unstable publishing era...
There is an ever raging debate about whether e-books provide a good income stream for authors. I don't know. I know as a reader, I have found more things accessible. Magazines that were only stocked in perhaps two places in the whole of Manchester I can have at a click of the big black BUY button. 99p books make me swoon, though I can't vouch yet for the quality of them.
Some books that went out of print decades ago have not resurfaced as e-books, which is a shame.
My little library will never be replaced. Some books remain most beautiful in hardcopy, especially as hardbacks. But if it can stop the influx of books eating into the corners of my living room, then so be it.
And it will help my postie's back a bit.
FINALLY! Something that combines my Japanophile/Nipponophile tendencies and my obsession with hunting and buying 'perfect book'...and then not reading it, but piling it up with other such Amazon and Waterstone's purchases.
It frightens me how many books are waiting. Some unemployed booklovers might love this situation. Just sit and read. But between acting like some sort of 1950s housewife and doing job application after job application (for some reason people don't want to hire someone who has longstanding mental health issues...) there are not enough hours in the day.
And, unfortunately, I am in the obsessive state whereby any remotely interesting DVD or book triggers ideas in my head that drives me to the laptop, but I can't focus enough because of the itchy brain. So it feels very...squashed in my head. Too many brilliantly put together stories out there at the moment and my brain can't filter out what is entertainment and what is inspiration.
Such terrible, terrible problems, I know.
In other news, I'm on Twitter now. For some reason, with the ability to tweet a celebrity, I thought it was some massive version of Facebook where everyone carried on conversations.
Nope. I have tweeted Masie Williams, Jasper Fforde, Matt Haig, Augusten Burroughs, Jon McGregor and Ryu Murakami and got bugger-all back. But with 50k+ followers in some instances, this does make sense.
It's also very unnerving when random people 'follow' you. Usually they're writers who have just broken into a publishing contract and looking for exposure. Fair does. I'd do the same. My friend's eleven-year old recently decided to follow me and I made the very correct decision to make sure his Mum was okay with this. She is and frankly, this is a cool kid (comics, rollercoasters, travelling) with cool writer parents and I'm quite nice and don't swear on Twitter.
So, a run-down of the week. Mental health team appointment, job interview, family occasion, Comic-Con, tattoo appointment. Busy busy. But that ain't bad. Nice to have a routine for the next seven days that starts scarily and ends happily.
