I truly love writing and have finished one novel, nearly finished a second and am in the middle of a third-- i write this while editing as I find it so tedious. I will try for publication next year but am terrified of the prospect of rejection.

But I will soldier on into the mists of Avalon, sword and shield in hand, and will win the day!!!

Oh, and just to say, this website is fantastic! I just found it today and hope to receive support as the road of a writer can be lonely sometimes.

It takes me about an hour to an hour and a half to finish a Johanna Lindsey size book. I can speed read. It doesn't mean that I miss anything, I just learned how to read according to the content of the book. Some of the content of speed reading such as efficient eye movement helps you read more efficiently which in turn helps you read faster. I realized a long time ago that when we are taught how to read, we are not taught how to read well. If the book requires more concentration to learn something, I slow down. The same with research, I slow down.

I see words in pictures. I always have. I don't see letters that make up the words. When I learned to read, I taught myself. I realized the "pictures" of words always mean the same thing. If the picture changes, so does the word. I would go to my Grandmother or mother or Grandfather with my comic book and ask what word was that picture. They would tell me and I would learn a new word. Since I see pictures allows me to read much faster. It's pure hades on spelling but reading is a snap.

By the time I was in first grade, I was reading at a much higher level. See Spot Run was boring when I was use to reading advanced library books and comic books. I wouldn't read for the teacher. She finally made me and I rattled off the page. She looked stunned and said "You can read. Why didn't you read before."

Because I didn't like her and I didn't want to read out loud to the class.

I realized in high school if I wanted to read what I wanted to read, I had to pick up speed so I started paying attention to speed reading techniques. I read 150 books in a summer according to the library contests when I was still eligible for the Children's summer contests. As I got older, it smoothed out a lot.

I've been told by many that "I read slowly because I want to enjoy it." It seems a bit silly as if they think I can't enjoy it because I read faster. Their loss. I'm enjoying 3 times as many books when they are focused on only one.

Listening to books ... that's one thing I haven't been able to warm up to yet. I have to give it a try again. Love the idea of middle grade books since I'm reading a lot of those with my son these days. Thanks for stopping by, Robin!

I don't really buy books (mostly because I am not a re-reader and don't have the room to store stuff I'm not using), but I haven't read on my tablet in ages. I buy physical books for my classes at school and I think that has led me away from reading electronically. Even when I went to Vegas for Thanksgiving, I brought an actual book with me and left my tablet home.

Glad to have helped 🙂

I don't think there is a right way for any of this. 🙂
But it sounds like you have a process that works well for you.

I miss the days of sitting for a couple of hours and reading. These days I'm lucky if I can get 30 minutes in one stretch, maybe an hour on a weekend. Changing that in the new year. You've inspired me!!

Oh Brianna, a girl after my own heart! I can't live without my tree books. There's just something so comforting about being surrounded by them. I've started reading on my iPad but I still default to buying physical books most of the time. Even if I'm reading a novel on my iPad, I'll have a tree book for bedtime. I don't get as lost in the act of reading when it's electronic.