The Book Thief Stole My Heart

I am so close to the finishing line with my book now that I can taste it (it tastes like Hobnobs ... well I had them today).  At present I am working with my editor (Mother) to make it is as polished as it can be and it's amazing what a fresh pair of eyes can see. While working like a madman during the day editing my book so I can self-publish it ASAP, by night, I have been reading 50 pages a day of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and finished it earlier on today.

I went into this book not really relishing the idea because:

1. It's relatively big (I have an irrational fear of big books - until I start reading them then my life is over until I have finished said book).
2. I knew it would probably make me cry.
3. I knew I would probably cry until my heart had no more tears to give.
4. Then, when I had finished crying, I would cry again.
5. My eyes would be sore from all the crying and I would cry again because of it.
6. It's about the war and the (many, many) evils of Hitler. As I am getting older, I am finding it harder to read about what happened to all those poor people who couldn't just be themselves.
7. Everyone loves this book and I am always wary of anything overhyped as I am usually disappointed.

Well, I loved it. I really did. I loved the language. I loved (ADORED) the characters. I loved the subtle humour that came through. I loved that it was narrated by Death and I loved that The Book Thief's protagonist was a child - I find adolescent characters the most fascinating as their observations on life are normally the most honest and their actions are the purest. Plus, Liesel reminded me of a mixture of Scout Finch & Lyra Belacqua who come from two books/series that I love.

There are some books where you want to talk about them after and say ‘Oh there was this wonderful quote/line and … what was it again? Something about …’ and the memory is gone. This book was packed with such quotes/lines. Like countless books before this, I haven’t learned my lesson and can’t remember any of them. Damn.

I cried. A LOT. I still can’t believe Hitler, and everything he did, is an actual part of history. I don’t understand, I really don’t. If you are as scared as me to read sad books, ignore your instincts and read it because I think it's important to do so. It can be bought on Amazon (here).

I better stop now because anyone who comes across this blog post (that isn’t my mother - who coincidentally has read it) will have probably read it already. Back to editing!

Until next time.

And now, the end is near ... I'm talking about my book

If January was a slow burn, I am certainly making up for it in February! After reading through my book a few weeks ago, I realised how close I was to finishing which made me excited and 'all guns blazing' to self-publish my book!

In my spare time, when I am not editing and while I eat my meals, I have been trying to cram in as much information on how Kindle self-publishing works. Honestly, I am having a hard time navigating my way around the web and trying to find answers to what I would think are simple questions. To me, there is a lot of conflicting information out there and TOO MANY 'Entrepreneurs' trying to sell any old book just to make a dollar. Don't get me wrong, I think it's wonderful to be driven and make money but I feel uncomfortable when people are just trying to find a niche in the market to start flooding with their books that they have no passion for, if that makes any sense.

-Ramble officially over-

In the next few weeks I will basically be in E-D-I-T mode - desperately looking through my over-read words for that extra 'the' or general grammatical disaster that my tired eyes have missed on the many previous read-throughs.

A FYI - my 'A Page a Day' project is going ABYSMALLY.  I think I am just too into my current book to even consider leaving my little made-up tale for a moment ... I may take this project back up soon though, who knows.

Until next time.