Brain Hacks and Christmas Wish Lists

I don’t take nearly as much time as I’d like to read. I do a lot of researching, which requires reading in bits and pieces, but pleasure reading tends to evade me.

That’s a shame, because I’m the pleasure-reader authors dream about. I get lost in the story, fall in love with the characters, cheer and cry and laugh at all the right times. I’m your favorite fangirl.

Those things also make me a terrible editor. Proofreading for errors? Sure, all day. Editing for plot holes and messy character arcs and other problems? When I’m that lost in a story, I can’t see past my tissues. It’s just a big ol’ bag o’ nope.

I digress. It’s my blog, I reserve the right.

So a few weeks back, while casually strolling through the library, I happened upon a time travel novel with a cool cover (yes, we do judge). It was Jodi Taylor’s Just One Damned Thing After Another. I expected it to be not terribly exciting, and it took a while for me to crack it open.

I was oh-so-ever-so wrong.

Turns out, it was the first book in the Chronicles of St. Mary’s series, which I wish I could hook up to my arm like an IV. I’ve just finished book four in the series and I’ve had to pause a bit before I had an emotional and intellectual breakdown.

That’s what books should do to you. In the Writing Excuses podcast for authors, they talk a lot about hacking your brain. I love that phrase! When we read, we are opening our minds to be hacked to turn black squiggles on a white page into a whole story playing in our heads, with all the pictures, ideas, and feels that go with it. It’s really an extraordinary experience if you think about it.

Anyway, I had intended today’s blog to be a wish list of what I want to read in the coming year and planned to send it to all my loved ones just before Christmas. You know, just in case they needed a nudge. But I have digressed, which I again assert my right to do.

Hey, maybe I’ll just throw this out there. Do you have any recommendations for me? I love early modern European history, romances, and time travel. You know, like my novel. I’m open to other genres as well.

What should I put on my Christmas list, provided I make it to the Nice column?

Our collective suggestions will be my next post. Make ‘em good!