The Origins of My Love Affair With Books

(Note: I got the idea for this post from Jason Black's blog, Plot to Punctuation.)

What started my love affair with reading? I'd like to brag that the book that first made me a reader was a great classic or somethiong avant-garde but that's not how it happened. Nope, I was the kind of kid who only read when my teachers forced me to. That is, until I was eight or nine and my mom grandmother got me this book:

The book that started it all

Yes, it's a Baby-sitters Club book. More specifically, the junior series staring Karen, the little sister of a Baby-sitters Club member.

Department of Redundant Words Department

 

Above is a word cloud from my unedited first draft of last year's NaNoWriMo novel. The text size of a word reflects how often it's used in the novel (common words like "I" or "and" are excluded), so it makes sense that the biggest words are then names of my main characters. But look at the biggest word that isn't a name - that big orange one just under "Simon". Yes, it's the winner for "Cat's Most Unnecessarily Overused and Redundant Word" Award, "back"!

I Can't Multitask

I've always thought of myself as a multitasker, but lately I've come to see that I'm not. Sure, I can watch TV while crocheting or looking at polymer clay genitals on Regretsy.com, but does that really count? (No. No it doesn't.)

When I say that I can't multitask, I mean that I'm unable to juggle writing and, well, doing any other project at the same time. The other projects typically are craft projects (I've been writing a craft blog for over four years now), but they also include animating and doing home improvement stuff.

Here's how it usually happens: I start to write but I can't stop thinking about the Other Thing. I should really be working on the Other Thing, shouldn't I? I mean, the story can wait. It doesn't have a deadline. But someone is waiting for the Other Thing. Sure, they said I could take my time but it's been days/weeks/months already...I'll just stop writing for a little while and go finish the Other Thing real quick and then I'll be able to write without anything hanging over my head!

That's how it starts, anyway.