My Reading Life – Crystal Caudill
By Crystal Caudill @CCaudillAuthor
Reading has always been an escape for me, a place where I can live vicariously through the lives of characters who have it harder than me and yet come out stronger on the other side. Not much has changed over the years except for maybe the quantity and how quickly I read.
It used to be I could sit and read a book straight through, even the ones that I didn’t particularly like. Years of chaos and taking up writing as a career has significantly altered that. Instead of reading 100 plus books a year, I think I’ve hit the jackpot if I’ve managed 24. Maybe you can relate to that.
In some ways, I feel like I’m learning how to read again. I’m having to learn how to how to read one chapter or, horror of horrors, a part of a chapter and then set it down. It still bothers me to leave a chapter mid-page, but life has dictated what few precious minutes I get.
Today on My Reading Life, Crystal Caudill lets us know what's she's reading. #ReadingCommunity #Reading #BRRC Share on XIronically enough, my word for this year is rest. This was also the year I crashed and burned, and it’s only been within the last month or so that I’ve purposely strived to learn how to rest. And part of learning how to rest was learning that reading doesn’t have to come in large chunks of binge reading to refill my soul.
I’m finding moments of rest by escaping into books like the one I finished last night, Millstone of Doubt by Erica Vetsch—even if it’s only 10 minutes a day. I’m also learning to have more than one book going at a time so that no matter where I am or what situation I am in, there is an option to sneak a few minutes of “reading rest.”
Where audiobooks had previously been an option, I’m finding I don’t have the time alone like I used to in order to listen to them. So I stick to nonfiction and writing craft books for those moments where an audiobook will work. Right now, I’m slowly working my way through The Writer’s Process by Anne Janzer. When I want something history related, I listen to Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement and the Bombing that Divided Gilded Age America by James Green.
Ebooks tend to happen on my phone in the middle of the night or at random moments I find I can sneak in a few words but can’t actually pull out a book. (How is it that if you play on your phone people won’t bother you, but the moment you have a book in your hands, it’s like people think you’re inviting them to talk to you?) Currently I have Sacred Rest by Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith, M.D. and My Dear Miss Dupré by Grace Hitchcock going.
What about you? Do you find rest in reading? Is it something you have to purposely make time for? How do you read books?
Meet Crystal
Crystal Caudill is the author of “dangerously good historical romance,” with her work garnering awards from Romance Writers of America and ACFW. She is a stay-at-home mom and caregiver, and when she isn’t writing, Caudill can be found playing board games with her family, drinking hot tea, or reading other great books at her home outside Cincinnati, Ohio.
Visit Crystal’s website to find out more. Click here.
The Conversation
I find I’m in a bit more of the opposite situation…there are far more quiet moments in my day than there used to be. My busy mom life has segued into a phase of life where I’m not as needed…which is both refreshing and a little sad at the same time. For me, audiobooks have filled a bit of the gap, mostly because I’m more active. If I’m taking a walk, cooking dinner, out in the garden , or refinishing my furniture, I can take along a book for company. I find that my soul is pretty content as a result. Better times are coming my friend!
Yes, I find rest in most of the books I read. I am an avid and eclectic reader. I think historical fiction is my favorite. But, I just finished a year of reading Amish. I enjoyed most of the year but I look forward to reading something different in the new year.