Somebody Stop Me

Okay, I had to come here and make a confession. I am an addict. I will never get my own writing done because I can't freakin' stop reading everyone else's writing...uggg. Someone stop me, please.

I've got three books I'm chomping at the bit to read and I've managed to hold off, telling myself I can indulge when I get to page 100 of my own current novel. (kindof sounds like a diet doesn't it? I can have that yummy chocolate cake when I've lost ten pounds.) So, I've been allowing myself brief peeks at blogs. Short reading, enough to get my fix...no harm done, right? Wrong with a capital R.

J.A. Konrath is a thriller writer who I am just getting familiar with and I haven't purchased any of his books yet, but he's got an incredibly helpful blog going http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/ so I will eventually pick up his Jack Daniels books. However, I accidentally read one of his books yesterday.

How do you accidentally read someone's book you ask? Well, you innocently click on the "free ebooks" link on the far right of his page and get sucked into a really good story. ORIGINS is about someone digging up the devil while building the Panama Canal. Is it really the devil? Well, you can go here: http://www.jakonrath.com/ebooks.html and read for yourself. It was a good story, one that he couldn't get published so he decided to let people read it for free. It had humor, which I like, and got my heart pumping more than once, which I really like. The only compliant I had was that there was so much potential in the subject matter, so many questions to delve into that it could have been a lot deeper. Instead, he opted for the blood and guts thriller route. Which was entertaining, even if I was looking for more.

This happened when I read SECOND GENESIS by Jeffrey Anderson, also. The subject matter--genetically altered chimps--excited me beyond belief. I loved the opening chapters which took place in a secret lab in the Amazon. Then, as all thrillers must, I suppose...the story took a turn into the jungles where a long chase scene ensued. Disappointment over the issues I wanted to see brought to light not being touched made me write to him. I told him how I was both moved by the first part of the book and disappointed in the second part (longer explanation that I'll spare you.) Being the really nice guy that he is, he wrote back and we had a great exchange of emails discussing how it's hard to please all the readers. (Some wrote to him saying they hated the opening chapters and loved the jungle chase.) He actually introduced me to the wonderful writing community of Backspace which I will always be indebted to him for.

What'cha gonna do? Can't please all the readers all the time. I'll have to remember that. But, since you can't have readers until you're done writing...off I go.