I have many excuses. For everything. Read my book, Stop Lying, and you'll hear all about excuses. Crazy making. And just because I dealt with lifestyle excuses, doesn't mean I don't have a gazillion other excuses for a gazillion other things in my life. I know it's human nature, but I still make myself freaking crazy sometimes. Anyway, here's an excuse/story. I hardly read anymore. Seriously. Crazy for a writer to say. I used to read two books a week. But here's my life, I work full time, I write at night, I have friends, I do this healthy living thing and I required about seven to eight hours of sleep at night. I find it really hard to fit anything else into most days. And with reading, I found that I can't read the genre I'm writing - it tends to get confused in my head. So I started not reading while I was actively writing a first draft of a book. And then I just stopped reading almost altogether. Like maybe three books a year. It made me crazy, too. People were talking about some great books: Life of Pi, Room, Twilight (LOL). So I decided I would buy them and read them in between writing contracts. Well I think I had life of Pi for five years before I finally read it. Wow - amazing book by the way! I had surgery three years ago and decided on my eight week recuperation I would read my face off. Well, I forgot to factor in the sleeping and exhaustion and weakness ... but I did ask my dad to buy me a book instead of sending me flowers and he did. Twilight. I mean everyone was talking about it. So during recuperation I read the Twilight series. I feel dirty saying that. I mean, nothing against Stephanie Meyers, more power to her. I, too, want an international bestseller please. But honestly the story is merely annoying, perhaps interesting to the prepubescent girls - okay and lots of other people - but the writing and story crafting was less than I was hoping for. That was the first book I read in almost two years. Oi vay. So, I decided it was time to start reading again. I don't think you can be a good writer if you're not a reader. So I'm fitting reading in. But it's hard - currently, Fifty Shades of Gray is sweeping the nation. I had a friend that read it so I asked her to tell me all about it. Well, she said, it's about 10% story and 90% titillation. And she LOVED it. Cool. Good for her. (SPOILER ALERT) However, I am not at all into BDSM (bondage, domination, sadomasochism) but not judging you if you are; I am not into 10% storyline, I am not into the romance of some little virgin getting all wrapped in n the incredibly softened and romanticized world of BDSM, which has been turned into soft core porn for this story. And possibly more bad writing. For me, I need something in a novel - I need good writing OR a well crafted plot-line OR enticing characters. Of course, sometimes you can actually get two or three of those all in one novel. But that miraculous happening aside, I need at least one. So new rule for me, I'm not buying the #1 bestseller any more until I have received a couple of honest reviews from people I trust. Remember, I'm not judging you if you loved Fifty Shades of Grey - it's what has kept True Story and Harlequin in business all these years - but say it for what it is, folks, don't call it GREAT FICTION. I'm choosing my books differently. Now, that being said, I am currently reading A Game of Thrones. I admit, I retrieved the book from our recycling room. I admit I am enjoying the HBO series. But I also admit I quite like the storyline in the book. I think the author has crafted this interesting world and he is explaining it to me well and making me want to know more about its people. Do you know what I was thinking when I read Twilight? Two things - OMG this has to get better and How many more pages left? What are you reading and why?