Tuesday 17 February 2015

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.

Saturday 7 February 2015

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.