Wow.
August was a record reading month for me. I read 20 (yes, twenty!) books!
I was home with my daughter, didn’t do much work, and was trying to read instead of scroll on my phone. I also had a child-free holiday with my husband, and I spent a lot of time reading then. I read two books just on the flight to Spain!
A lot of these books were research reading in the new fiction genre I’m in the process of launching, so I won’t share which titles I read for that purpose, but here’s the rest of my list:
- The Nature Fix by Florence Williams – a really great non-fiction focusing on the benefits of being in nature. Largely because of this book (and a desire to avoid writer’s ass), now I’m back in work mode, I’ve committed to a daily walk break.
- Release Strategies by Craig Martelle – if you’re an author and you don’t recognise that name, you should look up Craig. He’s the face of the 20 Books to 50k powerhouse group and the associated events they put on, as a non-profit. His books on the writing biz are easy to read and full of practical info.
- The 10x Author by Sean Platt and Johnny B Truant – again, these are familiar names for a lot of us in the indie author space. Sean and Johnny are two thirds of Sterling & Stone and they’re currently releasing short writing guides. I’ve read a couple of them so far.
- Three Women by Lisa Taddeo – one of my more chunky reads for the month, this non-fiction piece follows the sexual lives of three women. It’s intense, powerful and makes you question the choices we all make and the sexuality we embrace (or don’t).
- How To Write Fast by Platt and Truant – another of their guides, this one all about how you can write faster.
- Into The Darkness by David W Wright – the third of my Sterling & Stone books this month, and my favourite. This book is about writing darkness without losing yourself to hopelessness.
- Author Your Life by Lara Zielin – I loved this book, which is all about using the storytelling process to take charge of your life and step into your role as the leading lady (or lord) of your own life story.
- Brave, Not Perfect by Reshma Saujani – what fascinated me about this book was the information about how girls are brought up to be perfect, while boys are raised to make mistakes and learn to try and try fail and try again. It was a really interesting read.
- Learning to Love Yourself by Gay Hendricks – I loved the voice of this book. It felt kind of old-fashioned and quaint, and I really enjoyed it.
- Chillpreneur by Denise Duffield-Thomas – my biggest take away from this book was this – be a contributor. Whatever you feel passionate about, don’t feel like you need to be an expert or a guru, just be a contributor and offer your voice.
- More Than Enough by Elaine Welteroth – this was more of a memoir than I expected it to be when I ordered it, but I really enjoyed it. I’d never heard of Welteroth before so I came to the book with no preconceived opinions about her.
- High Achiever by Tiffany Jenkins – a memoir about one woman’s double life as a cop’s girlfriend, and a drug addict, and her time in prison. This was an enjoyable quick read and, as I often do, I thanked God that I was never cool enough as a teen to be offered drugs, because I’m not sure I would have had the confidence to say no, and who knows how different things would have ended up. I really do believe it’s pure luck that I was never in that situation. Huge props to Jenkins and everyone else who has battled an addiction.
And that rounds up the month’s reading.
It’s funny because I wouldn’t look back on the month and think I spent a huge amount of time reading, but clearly I did. I am a pretty quick reader and, as I say, plenty of these books were fairly short. And there were those child-free days, remember, where I had hours on the beach to do nothing but read and relax. Bliss.
I expect my reading numbers to return to normal now (8-9 a month maybe) as I throw myself into work mode and working on the big goals I have set out for the last quarter of 2019. Can you believe we’re quickly approaching the end of the year?!
