Being honest here…

…Here’s where I am. At only 10 books finished for the year so far, and one more, All Things Wise and Wonderful by James Herriot, that I am planning to finish by tomorrow, I am not a “real” book blogger.

…I’m okay with that. I still read what I want, whenever I can, even if I don’t fit the normal mold of “book blogger.” As always, this blog, as my life, is a work in progress, hence my being “still an unfinished person.”

…Plans don’t always go as…well…planned. For example, this past Wednesday I planned for Kim and I to write a blog post on short season shows we both liked. I then abandoned that and instead we had a post about our favorite Mother’s Day movies. This coming Wednesday, we plan to return with our recommendations for short season shows, those shows that didn’t or don’t expand beyond five seasons but are still worth watching, in our humble opinion.

…I’m not going to see my mom for Mother’s Day, not because I don’t want to and not because I don’t love her, but I need two days down this weekend, of not going anywhere, to rest my still sore (but slowly getting better) knee.

…I don’t know how I fit in with all of you Sunday Salon bloggers as I don’t consider myself a book blogger anymore. I don’t take review copies…er, obviously, with only 10 books read so far and all of them already published when I read them. I don’t do blog hops except for the Sunday Salon if that’s what you want to consider it, which in some ways, it is, but in other ways, it isn’t and why I like participating because of the people like many of you from around the country and around the world that I have met.

…I do readathons, but when I do, I’m not “in it to win it” like some of you seem to be. And I don’t get some readathons like Bout of Books (coming up this week and please join if you’re so inclined) that go for a week. I work during the week and when I got home from work, usually at 8 p.m. since I usually work afternoons, after being on a computer much of the day, one of the last things I want to do is read fine print on a screen or even worse in a printed book. Like I said in a previous post on “How Do YOU Read?”, I’m weird in that I like longer stretches of time in which to read. I’m not accustomed to reading in short bursts, and yes, probably why I’ve “only” read 10 books so far this year.

…That “only” will be a post for another time: The “only” and book blogger guilt of not reading the number of books per year we’ve read in the past and how some book bloggers can look down their noses at people who choose not to read for whatever reason or maybe can’t read. Not all, but some. I just have to figure out how to write it without coming across as a snob myself against what I perceive as book snobbery and not looking down my nose either at them.

…I feel sometimes I don’t read some of your blog posts as carefully as I should because I feel like I’m rushing through posts to try to respond to every post here in The Sunday Salon. I also feel sometimes that some of you don’t read mine either that carefully, so there is miscommunication on both sides. I’m sure that I’ll get at least one comment to this post that misconstrues something I wrote or doesn’t read the entire post and get the point, if there even is one, in context. And on the flip side, I’ll probably do the same with my response to your response or a comment on one of your posts.

…That said, I’m trying to do better and not just comment for commenting’s sake. If I don’t have something to say on your post, I just won’t say it. If I relate to something, I’ll respond, but just because I don’t comment doesn’t mean that I didn’t read your post; it just might be that I didn’t relate to what you were writing, at least not at the time I was reading…and maybe never. Likewise, don’t feel obliged to comment on my blog posts. I welcome your comments, but don’t expect them. I will attempt to be more attentive to reading your posts too and not rushing through them for the sake of reading them.

…I don’t know if I said all this correctly or in the spirit this post is meant to be taken, as a sort of a mind dump for me.

Honestly, where are you this week in terms of reading books, watching TV and/or movies, listening to music…in life, in general? Be honest. It’s okay. I asked for it.