Romance Reading
Summer is the best time to catch up on reading. At the moment, my TBR pile is six books high. I have three authors I am reading for the first time: Debbie Macomber (If Not for You), Jessica Lemmon (The Billionaire Next Door), and Carolyn Brown (Billion Dollar Cowboy). I discovered them through Amazon recommendations. As soon as I finish reading these books, I will post reviews.
Weekends – the perfect time to escape
Technical Reading
I’m also reading books that deal with the technical side of writing by authors Gwen Hayes Romancing the Beat), Libbie Hawker (Take off your Pants!) and K.M. Weiland (Creating Character Arcs). I had the pleasure of attending a workshop presented by Gwen Hayes and was inspired to learn more about her technique. I subscribe to K.M. Weiland’s newsletter and wanted to learn more about creating character arcs. Libbie Hawkers’ book, Take Off Your Pants! called out to me because I am a panster (very little planning when writing a story).

As an author, reading is important to me for various reasons. Reading, regardless of genre, allows me to escape my world and explore that of another author. Also, I discover another’s style and ideas, and learn how they tell their stories. Reading well-written books helps us to improve our writing skills.

Benefits of Reading
Lana Winter-Hebert’s article https://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/10-benefits-reading-why-you-should-read-everyday.html covers the benefits of reading, two of which I was unaware, or didn’t give much thought to. Memory improvement. Having to remember characters and everything about them causes the brain to forge new synapses which in turn strengthens new ones, thereby supporting short-term memory recall. Stress Reduction. Losing yourself in a story helps in letting tension leave your body and allowing you to relax. I remember way back in university, my boyfriend (now husband) would take a break from his studies and read. I always thought that it was a strange way to relax, but then again, this was a time before we had video games, computers or cell phones to distract us. It was either read a book or go for a run.
Now, that I’ve told you what my reading plans are for the summer, I should get busy and crack open a book. What about you? Do you have reading plans for the summer? Are there books sitting in your TBR pile waiting for you to give them a try? Care to share what your goals are?
Happy reading!