One of my two stories that have been accepted for publication is now up for your perusal! I want to scream it from the end of the driveway and purchase a billboard so the entire world can see, but alas, I still have a day job. By no means am I embarrassed of the story or of my writing, but some things (such as remaining employed by not offending the parents of the teen masses) just have to come first. Still, this does not tarnish my joy in the least. My story is out there, and in less than two weeks I will have another story out there. This second one will be in print as well as online.
This week I realized I am an addict. I am a music addict; I am a fiction addict; I am a non-fiction addict.
MUSIC ADDICTION: I cannot live without music, and I am not a snob. I will listen to, sing, play, and dance to classical, country, rock (alternative, classic, grunge, hard, metal, etc.), rap, reggae, dance, and techno. I sing, whistle, or hum (all despite the intense frustration of my students) constantly. I will vocalize anything from a Chopin Nocturne, to a 90's grunge song, to the tune from Blues Clues. My knowledge and appreciation spans the centuries of "classical" music from Baroque to the Romantics. My Rock sub-addiction thrives on anything from the scandalous Jazz, Blues, and Ragtime of the 40's through Elvis, The Beatles, Queen, to the Doors, Aerosmith, Nirvana, to My Chemical Romance, Muse, and Arcade Fire. I honestly cannot list all the music I love. When I am forced to be silent because my students want to work, I stand there and dance to the music in my head. It's not like I have an internal off button. I can't help it. If I can't hear music, I make music, and if I can't make music, I internalize music. I see absolutely no problem with this.
FICTION ADDICTION: This can be entirely blamed on my family. My whole fam-damnly. I might have been told "No, you can't have 9 books or even 5 books, but Yes, you can always have a book." I was a sneaky little thing. I would get my 1 book, and it would be the first in a series of 3, or 7, or a million. Then my birthday, Christmas, and any other gift giving opportunity was loaded with the rest of the series from my parents, my most amazing book-o-phile aunts, and any other family I could convince that I just had to finish the series, and the series after that, and then this new series, and so on. I worked in the college library and God-love my supervisor, he did me no favors. He would send me out to shelve, then come find me at the end of my shift with a cart full of unshelved books, sitting in the floor reading. He'd pat my head, and if we had another copy of the book, take it out of circulation and give it to me. I think he is the reason I had to quit working at a bookstore before I got fired for doing the exact same thing. Book stores don't like it when you are on the clock sitting in the floor reading. And they never let you just keep the books! I'm also not a book snob. I'll read anything, and have only read one bad book in my life (I was a kid and I believe it was above my level, I need to go back and find that book and re-read it). I love fantasy and young adult. I devour contemporary literary novels (particularly the Appalachian kind) and mystery/thrillers. I truly enjoy the classics from Dickens to Hemingway to Melville. If you write it, I'll read it, and probably enjoy it too. I see absolutely no problem with this.
NON-FICTION ADDICTION: And this is where I become a snob. I only read non-fiction books that are about writing. However, with that said, I can't get enough of them. How to write fiction, how to write short stories, plot structure, character development, self-editing, anything. I consume these books as quickly as I do the fiction. I enjoy them. I argue with them while I read. I don't see them as a "how to" as much as a "how I did". I take every piece of advice with a tablespoon of salt, then evaluate my own fiction afterwards. Sometimes I make changes, to the fiction or my methods. Sometimes I laugh and shelve the book. Sometimes I stop mid-chapter and promise myself to come back when I fully understand the idea being illuminated. I bought three more of these today, and am going to go back and pick up some of those mid-chapter set asides until they get here. I see absolutely no problem with this.
I'm off to write, and read, and whistle, and dance.
