Wendy Wax talks about Dangerous Reading Habits

Readers, please join me welcoming Wendy Wax, author of Magnolia Wednesdays (releasing today!) who’s guest blogging here today. A former broadcaster, Wendy lives in the Atlanta suburbs with her husband and two teenage sons, who have turned her into the shortest member of their family. She is the author of seven novels including 7 Days and 7 Nights, Leave It to Cleavage, Hostile Makeover, Single in Suburbia and The Accidental Bestseller. Her latest book – Magnolia Wednesdays – is a wonderfully entertaining book about what to do when life comes at you full swing.

Synopsis : At forty-one, Vivian Armstrong Gray’s life as an investigative journalist is crumbling. Humiliated after taking a bullet in her backside during an exposé, Vivi learns that she’s pregnant, jobless, and very hormonal. This explains why she says ‘yes’ to a dreadful job covering suburban living back home in Georgia, a column she must write incognito.

Down South, it’s her sister’s ballroom dance studio that becomes her undercover spot where she learns about the local life-and where unexpected friendships develop. As she digs up her long buried roots, she starts to wonder if life inside the picket fence is really so bad after all….

For more information, visit Wendy’s website at www.authorwendywax.com .

A Dangerous Reading Habit

Reading is my favorite pastime and greatest escape. I’ve joked that if my family would just leave me alone long enough, I could read a book a day, no problem. Once in my early twenties after an especially bad break up, I did just that—one a day until I started to fee better. The nice thing about disappearing into a book is that there’s no hangover, no unwanted extra pounds, and no guilt. Unless, of course, your little reading habit keeps you from getting your work done or leaves your responsibilities unmet.

As a writer I’ve had a hard time controlling my reading habit. The truth is that as rewarding as writing can be, and as wonderful as it is to see the fruit of your labor on a bookstore shelf, writing a novel is hard work. Reading is not. In fact, on any given day no matter how in love I am with the book I’m writing, if I were given a choice, I’d be tempted to read someone else’s work rather than write my own. The problem is, once I start reading it’s way too hard to stop.

Since I have such a hard time controlling this on my end, I’ve composed a little letter that I’m thinking about sending to some of my favorite authors asking for a reprieve. Because if they were a little less prolific, I might be more so.

If you think you can use it, just fill in the blanks and send it to your own favorite authors!

Maybe they’ll write a little slower so that we can take care of our lives.

OK, here goes:

Dear _____________, (Fill in favorite author or authors here. I’m not naming names because there are far too many of them.)

Don’t take this the wrong way, but could you please stop writing for a while? Would a brief hiatus really hurt you?

Because the thing is, I have a ___________ due sooner than I like to admit. And every time I sit down to _______________my mind begins to wander to that book of yours I’m currently reading.

I really love your work. Unfortunately, reading pretty much anything you write is a lot easier and far more fun than _______________. (fill in your occupation here). But I’m tired because I sat up most of last night reading __________________ (fill in author’s latest work) and I could barely get up this morning. I snuck a chapter in at breakfast when I should have been _______________________ (name activity) and another at ____________ when I should have been ______________________.

If I don’t kick this habit, I could end up (unemployed/divorced/_______________) so why don’t you give me a break and go on vacation or something?

Or start writing in a genre like _______________that I don’t often read.

After all the money I’ve spent on your books, it’s the least you could do.

Sincerely,

___________________________________

(Your signature here!)

Note: Wendy Wax is the author of eight novels including The Accidental Bestseller and the just released, Magnolia Wednesdays. She thinks she might have written them more quickly if the above letter had already existed.

I’ve been a bit distracted myself these days with the flood of new Spring releases. They’ve held me captive and I have the dirty dishes to prove it! The result of a whole weekend’s worth of washing sits waiting to be folded as I lose myself in the pages of one spectacular book after another (reviews forthcoming…). Sometimes I do feel like Wendy describes, just write a letter and say – hey, cut it out! I don’t find a lot of time to re-read old and new favorites and that’s a bit disappointing. Hurry, hurry, all the time.

What about you? Want to try sending Wendy’s letter to your favorite author or publisher? Let me know and I may just join you 🙂 Till then, happy reading….

Note – This book was received for review/feature consideration.
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