Tagged: chronic back pain

On Review Requests, Wait Times and Health Problems

First off, let me say that I’m flattered so many authors have been contacting me to request reviews for their books.  Not only is it awesome to get free books, it’s always such a great experience working with authors from all kinds of different backgrounds.  This is truly one of the joys of blogging.

However, I’m starting to get to where I have too many requests for my situation.  I won’t be closing requests, but I will be a lot more picky about whose requests I accept.  Don’t follow the guidelines in my review policy and send me a generic email?  Trash.  It’s that simple, even though in the past I would give most authors a second chance.

Also, waiting times are likely to be quite long, currently sitting at 2-3 months for ebooks and two weeks for paperbacks.  There’s a good reason for all this and it’s not my awful procrastination habit either.

I’ve been driving back and forth making eight hour round trips to see various specialists down in the city.  You see, I’ve been suffering from chronic back pain for almost three years now and my symptoms are getting worse.  The pain in my back is more severe, and I’m starting to get pain in my legs, particularly my knees.  Is my condition life threatening?  Not likely, thank goodness.  But does it keep me from doing what I love?  Sometimes.

So far I’ve been lucky enough not to have to make the tough decision to cut back on blogging.  Blogging is one of the few things left to me now that I come home from work and collapse from exhaustion and pain.  I can’t do all of the physical activities I used to, so in some ways I do get more reading done.  However, I also have days where all I can do is sleep because the pain makes it hard to even hold a book.

Therefore you guys probably won’t be seeing as many interviews or giveaways this summer as I have done in the past, but hopefully once I get my diagnosis and get some proper treatment I can get on with my life.

Why do you Read?

Why do you read?  That’s a question I get a lot, mostly because I have my nose in a book over 50% of the time.  But really, why do I read?  Here are just some of the reasons.

Reading is Fun

1.  Enjoyment.

Books are great entertainment and they’re certainly better than what’s on TV 99% of the time.  Hmm…’reality’ TV or a good book that makes me laugh, cry and genuinely care about the characters?  I think that’s a pretty easy decision most of the time.  Of course not all books are great books and some have certainly been much worse than reality TV, but there’s certainly less chance of being lied to constantly when you’re reading.  At least most editors try to get their writers to stick to the facts, whereas most television shows seem to not care as long as they’re getting views.

Good books make you laugh at the characters’ antics, cry at their losses and your heart race when they are in danger.  Movies have the advantage of visuals and audio, but books allow readers to (generally) see inside the characters’ heads and have more in-depth knowledge of what’s going on.  I personally find it easier to connect with characters in books than in movies or television because of that, but that might just be me. Continue reading →