One of my favorite things to do is read and guess what??  Out of all of my many wonderful friends that I have made over the years – not one of them enjoys reading!  Can you even believe it??  On top of that, now that my kiddos are older, I am actually finding that I have more time than I have had in many years to read while I wait for them at their events and activities. What I am missing in this equation of reading happiness is that when I find a unique and inspiring author, touching book, ‘suck you in and read it in one night’ book, or ‘I can’t wait until the next book comes out’ series,  I want to be able to share my excitement and enthusiasm.  So I am really wanting to find and be a part of a network of readers who enjoy it as much as I do!

Another thing that I have started to realize is that not only do I enjoy a great book, but I also want to know the story of the author behind the story. I enjoy reading up on the authors who write these fantastic reads and seeing where their inspiration comes from and researching their different writing styles and genres as well. I have begun to follow so many of these authors on social media such as Goodreads and Facebook to see when their next book is coming up, what other titles they have written, and to catch a glimpse into what they are really like in ‘real life’ – who they really are.

I have also began to follow the bloggers as well. Originally, I would use Goodreads as my go to source for my ‘should I get this book or that book?’ and ‘what do others say?’ before I would make a purchase.  Sometimes I took the suggestions from the reviews and totally agreed,  sometimes I went with my gut feeling and got the book with the negative reviews anyway and would be delighted to find that I really liked it. This is where my inner turmoil began…in many reviews people would hate (and I mean HATE) some of the books I really loved.  This made me think ‘Wow! If I would have actually followed their opinions, I never would have read this truly great book that touched me in a very profound way.’  I don’t know if my one little voice can make a difference or not, but I do think it’s important to let others to know that something could possibly do the same for them.

So that leads us to the here and now and what I have decided to do…I want to try to connect with and be a part of an awesome community of readers and writers. I want to share my honest thoughts and possibly be that that person to jump in and possibly lead a person to be touched by a great author or a great story.  I am not particularly a technology guru to begin with, so I really hope that I can figure this side of it out and successfully join the cyberspace world of reading. I’ll be honest, I have no idea what I am doing, so I guess if you see this article it is a small miracle.

I think I am off to a good start, and I guess from here we will see how this goes!