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Monday, December 14, 2009

'Tis the season

Maybe it’s the nasty weather (for you, snow, perhaps; for Alabama, rain and fog), but I always get a lot of reading done this time of year, shopping and family gatherings notwithstanding. My family gatherings actually perpetuate the tradition of reading rather than talking to each other. We are not particularly social. We are a family of brainiacs. When we got together at Thanksgiving, the climax of the evening was bundling up and waddling outside to watch the space station streak across the sky.

So over the holidays, we will settle around the fireplace in the den and read according to our personal tastes. I have asked for lots of YA novels for Christmas, plus all the Jennifer Crusie novels I haven’t read (write faster, Jenny...I am running out). My brother has asked me to buy him those timeless holiday classics, The Battle for Leyte Gulf: The Incredible Story of World War II's Largest Naval Battle, and Clash of The Carriers: The True Story of the Marianas Turkey Shoot of World War II. Festive! My mom will be re-reading Diana Gabaldon, again. My dad will settle down for the latest issue of Plane & Pilot and a long winter’s nap. My husband will continue his recent and inexplicable Laura Ingalls Wilder addiction, and my son will read whatever I will pay him 50 cents to read.

What’s even more exciting, to me anyway, is that this is my writing season. For some reason I write more during the winter than any other time, and my stories are always about spring or summer or a sun-struck fall, often at the lake or the beach. I’m really looking forward to getting up at 4:30 a.m. every morning during vacation so I can write before the family gets up, and I am saying that with no hint of sarcasm whatsoever.

How about you? Do you read or write more at a certain time of year? It sure seems to me that my book sales go way up during the holiday season, but maybe that’s because everybody gets bookstore gift cards in their stockings. :)

2 comments:

Jenny said...

I read a lot in the summer, lounging on a chair by the pool or on a beach. I don't write at all in the summer. I start to heat up in the fall and by winter I'm chugging away on chapters.

Writing is definitely seasonal for me!

Stephanie Kuehnert said...

I don't know if the seasons really affect my reading or writing. No, I do think I write more during the winter. I read a lot when I travel or go on vacation and lately I have been reading a lot more because I've been recommitting myself to it. I have a hard time winding down at night so I've been carving in at least half an hour a night to read and it's been lovely!