Finishing Books

The post title is referring to finishing books in two ways: reading and writing. Interestingly enough, I just did a little of both! I am experimenting with writing a different style of book than I usually write (which means non-YA). I love YA, both reading and writing, but sometimes it gets me down. I don't want to perpetually be stuck in a teenaged mind (nor would anyone, I hope), and with the way life has been in the last six months, I needed to take a break. This is the first book I have written without being under contract since my first novel, Get Well Soon. I am always amazed at authors who write and write and write, not knowing if their finished projects will become published works. I don't think I could be an author like that. Or, if I were, I would really have to tell myself, "You love to write, so who cares what happens with what you do write?" So far, I am not that person. Maybe some day, when I have more time than a half hour before my daughter wakes up in the morning, I can be that kind of author. That's another reason I tried writing something other than YA: right now, I can't find the two hour chunk per day I need to write a solid YA chapter. So I went younger: shorter chapters, less time needed. Still, I am even struggling to find the time for that. Like right now I am trying to type a simple blog post, and I put my daughter in front of the TV (not really in front of it, just on the couch next to me). She has interrupted me no fewer than fifteen times already. She wants me to pretend to be Mickey Mouse or give me a hug or talk about the show. I don't understand how TV is supposed to give me more time to do things because that is not how it works in my house. Then the guilt of telling my daughter to stop interrupting me and just watch the TV, please! Now she has to poo. I think she timed that on purpose.

The other "finishing" a book is how the only way I seem to be able to finish reading a book these days is by keeping it in the bathroom. I finished one book in the bathroom yesterday, but the other novel I'm reading has been on my nightstand for over a month. It's a good book: an award winner from a NYT bestselling author. Both could mean nothing in terms of whether or not I'm enjoying it, but I am. The only thing is that I am over two hundred pages in, but that has taken me weeks. Should I take four more weeks of my reading life to finish it? I often give up on books, but I don't need to give up on this one just yet. I keep hoping the main characters will have sex. That is seriously motivating me to finish reading this book. This is not the first time I have admitted to being a reading perv. Whatever works, right? But don't worry: I didn't put any sex in my younger book. I'll save that for my YA. Hmmm... Maybe I'll be writing a new YA book sooner than I thought.