Thursday, April 14, 2005

Stressed

While I can keep my cool in a crisis or in the day-to-day stress at work, I must admit that I'm not invulnerable. Yes, you heard me. I can't do it all. A pending job change, a double move, auto repairs, a baby shower to plan for my sister, and the removal of my wisdom teeth. All within 5 weeks of each other.

So how do I handle it?

I abandon every single one of my writing projects and I read. Furiously.

In the past month, I've read novel after novel, losing myself in the worlds of science fiction and fantasy (and some romance, too.)

Today I finished reading Holly Lisle's Secret Texts trilogy. When I first began reading the first book, Diplomacy of Wolves, I was afraid it was going to be too political and too much spying. But Ms. Lisle surprised me, something not too many authors can do to me anymore. Needless to say I devoured the book in three days, then moved onto the next in the series, and the next.

The complexity of her characters amazes me. This is how I want my characters to read. Characters I met in the start of the first book have morphed, grown, Become. And even the ending of the third book surprised me.

Strangely too reading this particular series has helped me through some concerns I had over Forgotten Star. I won't bore you with the details, but rest assured Korin and Crystal's story will only become more complicated because of it. (Oh, where's an evil grin when I need it??)

Coincidentally, she's the author who founded the online writing community, Forward Motion, of which I'm a member. She's worked miracles for my writing. The philosophy of the community is that we learn then we share what we learn. I'm also trying to support my fellow members by reading their books, and let me tell you what a treat that's been.

As far as Holly is concerned, her website is here. Her other works I've read are the World Gates books, more of a modern type fantasy story, for those of you who aren't sure of venturing into dragons and princesses needing rescue. There are several other books I have yet to read, but my husband knows the size of my To Be Read pile of novels, so I truly can't buy anymore just yet. :-) But soon!

3 comments:

Margaret M. Fisk said...

Hugs on the stress, but you've chosen the right form of relaxation :). And the nice thing about your list is that those stressors largely have an end-point. Your writing will still be there, and it might even be better thanks to what you're learning while destressing :).

Holly said...

Thank you for the kind comments on the books; I'm delighted that I could make the stress a little lighter.

Good luck with your writing. And with the moving, and everything else. When it gets crazy, just remember: This too shall pass. It always does.

Incidentally, Margaret tipped me to your blog. I'll peek in from time to time to see how things are going.

D.M. Bonanno said...

Yesterday afternoon, I glanced over Silent Bounce and out of the corner of my eye, caught 'Dawn World' in the side panel. I was very surprised, and my ultimate conclusion was that there had to be another Dawn. (Scary thought that I have a mental twin; I already have an evil one.)

Thanks both of you, for the support and encouragement. Hope you have a great day, and a fabulous weekend.