Summertime. Vacation time. My blogging is coming along. I’m working feverishly on the draft of my police non-fiction book. I have almost 400 pages of great material and now I’m struggling with what to include, what to cut and how to arrange everything so that it’s readable and appealing to readers.  I’m chugging away at the edits for my novel, too. Oh my, but my brain is getting full. Plot, character arcs, building tension, ramping up the romance and mystery. Whew.

Some of the books I've read/plan to read soon.

Some of the books I’ve read/plan to read soon.

In the midst of this, I’ve been ‘reading’ like a maniac.  Not paper and ink, though but listening to the Audible.com download of – Fall of Giants, by Ken Follett. Thirty hours, a cavalcade of characters. Whenever I’m doing something housewifey now – folding laundry, washing dishes, making supper , sewing – I whip on my sound-dampening earphones and plug myself back into the sweeping tale. I’ve sworn off wine during the week and I’m walking every day, just so I can listen for longer. Another unforeseen benefit – I can ‘read’ while I’m falling asleep.

For a while I felt guilty about not doing ‘real’ reading but oh, how I’ve enjoyed consuming books for hours at a time. It’s the ultimate in multi-tasking.