HOW DO YOU CHOOSE WHAT TO READ NEXT?

I know we all have books from friends that are in our TBR pile.

But when you want a book from out of the blue with no connections to friends to read, 

how do you choose?

There is one intriguing source I just found WHICHBOOK:
http://www.openingthebook.com/whichbook/

Whichbook enables millions of combinations of factors 

and then suggests books which most closely match your needs. 

Click to open up to 4 sliders and move the to set your choices. 


THE DOUBLE-BOOKING METHOD:

Once upon a time there was a devious but lovelorn woman we shall call Dory.  

She would set up dates with two guys on the same night.

Should the first prove a dud, Dory would end it somehow and move on to Date #2.  

If #1 proved great, she would find an excuse to postpone the date with her second option. 

I do a variation of that, reading several books at once.  

Sometimes one takes a hold of me so fiercely that the other two books on put on "hold."

You ever do that?


THE WINE TESTER METHOD:

You go to a book store, lay claim to a few interesting possibles, sit down and sip a bit from each: 

a first line here or a first paragraph here, or the last sentence there.

I do that one, too.  How about you?


THE "I SHOULD LIKE THIS BOOK" METHOD:

We buy a book from a great review or a fascinating premise, or a topic that promises enrichment.  

But like Bran Flakes -- just because something is good for you doesn't make it "taste" good.

You ever do this one?


My friend, Terry, hosted me on his blog, but is down that so few have visited him.  :-( 

 C'mon. Pay the man a visit.  I feel guilty.

http://uparoundthecorner.blogspot.com/2016/02/guest-post-welcome-to-my-dont-you-hate.html

Announcing A BOOK LOVE-IN!!

http://uparoundthecorner.blogspot.com/2016/02/guest-post-welcome-to-my-dont-you-hate.html

Starting today, I will be piloting the Air/Steamship, Xanadu,

and visiting blogs all through the blogsverse.

Let's face it: 

Book Tours have become endemic.  They are like Presidential political speeches:

They say the same thing over and over again, making innocent by-standers flinch at the incessant onslaught.

There seems to be no cure for them.

Until Now:

My very own "DON'T YOU HATE BOOK TOURS?" Book Tour.

By the time I am finished, "Book Tour" will be a hated name ... ah, it already is, isn't it?

Well, then my job should be easy, right?

My first stop is at the blog of good friend, Terry Wade Ervin II.

Terry has already suffered enough just by having me commandeer his blog.

Don't let him suffer further by having the number of his visitors slump.

So visit his blog and see what all this is about!

http://uparoundthecorner.blogspot.com/2016/02/guest-post-welcome-to-my-dont-you-hate.html

See you there!

WHEN VALNETINE'S DAY IS HOLLOW

FEELING A BIT BITTER THIS VALENTINE'S DAY?

For many singles, instead of being a day for celebration it ends up bringing up feelings of self-doubt, loneliness or depression.

85% of all current relationships are unhappy according to the American Psychiatric Association.  Gulp!

Imagine being in one of them this Valentine's Day? 

At least if you are single, you have hope you will find that right person that will put you in the 15% category!

Remember That A Relationship Doesn't Define 

Who You Are

 

Just like when someone asks you what you do for a living, the same goes for your relationship status: 

Whatever your situation, it isn't the end-all explanation of who you are as a person.

  

  Love, like happiness,

 is found 

when your mind is focused on giving it to others.

Valentine's is just another day.

Treat it as such.  

It's Sunday this year: 

sleep in -- do what makes you happy.

Another person cannot

make you happy.

Only you can make you happy.

ONLY when you are whole within yourself

will you attract another whole person.

Two half-people sadly do not

make a whole one:

Only two thirsty people

trying to drink from leaking wells.

It is okay not to be okay.

Sometimes, people need permission to break. 

And it is from that broken place 

that they are finally able to become whole again.

Above all,

explore the world

waiting for you to discover it.

Don't forget to buy
My latest book!

http://www.amazon.com/Bear-Two-Shadows-Roland-Yeomans/dp/1523889152/

DON'T READ THIS POST!

Me am Bizarro Roland --

 

http://www.amazon.com/Bear-Two-Shadows-Roland-Yeomans/dp/1523889152/

DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK!

IT AM TOO EXPENSIVE AT $9.99

PROSE INSIDE AS UGLY AS COVER OUTSIDE

IT AM BAD SIGN WHEN LITTLE GIRLS

ASK FATHERS TO READ THEM 1st PAGE 

EVERY NIGHT BEFORE THEY GO SLEEP!

http://www.amazon.com/The-Bear-with-Two-Shadows/dp/B00CW9O1NY/

DO NOT BUY AUDIO BOOK

JACK DE GOLIA AM TERRIBLE NARRATOR

$9.97 AM TOO EXPENSIVE FOR AUDIO BOOK! 

Me Am Bizarro Roland.

Me Am Rooting for Lex Luthor:

HOW MUCH ARE YOU WILLING TO INVEST IN YOUR DREAM?

KEEP A JOURNAL:

If you want to write, you need to keep an honest, unpublishable journal that nobody reads, nobody but you. 

Where you just put down what you think about life, what you think about things, 

what you think is fair and what you think is unfair. 


READ:

You need to read. You can’t be a writer if you’re not a reader. 

It’s the great writers who teach us how to write.

Don't tell me that you don't have time to read.   

This is like a man starting up Mount Everest saying that he didn’t have time to buy any rope or pitons.

WRITE:

Write. Just write a little bit every day. Even if it’s for only half an hour — write, write, write.

Let the writer take up surgery or bricklaying if she is interested in technique. 

There is no mechanical way to get the writing done, no shortcut. 

The young writer would be a fool to follow a theory. 

Teach yourself by your own mistakes; people learn only by error. 

The good artist believes that nobody is good enough to give him advice. 

She has supreme vanity. 

No matter how much she admires the old writer, she wants to beat him.

What did Joss Whedon say?  "You either HAVE to write, or you shouldn't be writing at all."

LISTEN TO NEIL GAIMAN:

“Start telling the stories that only you can tell, 

because there’ll always be better writers than you 

and there’ll always be smarter writers than you. 

There will always be people who are much better at doing this or doing that – 

but you are the only you.”

TAKE THE TIME AND EFFORT TO BE AWARE:

Becoming a writer is about becoming conscious. 

When you’re conscious and writing from a place of insight and simplicity and real caring about the truth, 

you have the ability to throw the lights on for your reader. 

He or she will recognize his or her life and truth in what you say, 

in the prose pictures you have painted, 

and this decreases the terrible sense of isolation that we have all had too much of.

Try to leave the Ivory Tower School of Writing -- 

do not write about Man.

Write of A man ... or A woman ... 

trying to make sense of their lives, lost dreams, failed loves.

"Listen" to the stories of the lives around you.  

For it is in them that you will find the roots of your own novels.

START WRITING NOW:

Start writing right now. 

Don’t write it right, just write it –

and then make it right later. 

Give yourself the mental freedom to enjoy the process, 

because the process of writing is a long one. 

Be wary of “writing rules” and advice. Do it your way.

Ignore critics. 

Critics are a dime a dozen. Anybody can be a critic. Writers are priceless.

Go where the pleasure is in your writing. Go where the pain is.

 Write the book you would like to read. 

Write the book you have been trying to find but have not found. 

But write.

LEARN TO LISTEN TO YOUR INSTINCTS:

Learn to trust your own judgment, 

learn inner independence, learn to trust that time will sort the good from the bad – 

including your own bad.

Every writer knows fear and discouragement. 

Just write. 

The world is crying for new writing.

 It is crying for fresh and original voices and new characters and new stories. 

If you won’t write the classics of tomorrow, well, we will not have any.

How much time do you put into writing each day?