Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Oh the memories

Today during my lunch break I drove near the city park near where I work. I had a flashback, if you will, to last summer when I was reading the first three Dark Ones books by Katie MacAlister - my very first romance novels.

I was 100% enthralled. The stories, the men, the sex, the love, the vampireness. It was perfect, what I always wanted to read but didn't know existed. I would park at work then go in a few minutes late just so I could read a couple more pages.

During lunch I would sit in my car at the park with the windows down, reading as fast as my eyes would go. I would sneak my book out of my desk once or twice during the day just to read a couple of pages to finish a scene.

It's fun being that into a book. Especially in the summertime. Random post, I know. It just kind of stuck with me today and I wished I could go back and reexperience the introduction to a whole new world of books.

Stumbling upon those books has been one of the best things to ever happen to me. Because of those books, I began to read romance. I realized that my struggles in novel writing were because general fiction/horror wasn't working. Romance was what I was missing.

I dove head first into the world, trying to learn as much as fast as I could. I've read amazing books, learned of incredible authors and made lifetime friends.

What a year it's been. I hope to always feel that joy I've felt since last year of becoming a part of a new world with new characters that grip me and force me to read at stoplights. Me love books - ugh *chest pounding*

8 comments:

Elisabeth Naughton said...

What a cool milestone. :)

I don't even remember when I started reading romance. I only know I've been reading it for a long time. And I don't even remember when I started writing. I mean, I know the time frame, but not what spurred me on and got me going? How sad is that? I swear, motherhood kills brain cells. It's not just pregnancy. Every day I feel bits and pieces slipping away. My girlfriends talk about things that happened in grad school, things *I* did, and I have no recollection of them. (And these are times when I was sober!).

Lisa Pulliam said...

Oh God, then I'm screwed when I get pregnant because I already have a terrible memory. Dang kids, stealing brain cells and energy. Now here's the question: do you better recall the sober or drunken times of grad school? ;-)

Elisabeth Naughton said...

Oh, man, neither. I have vague recollections of some of our parties, but for the most part, not muany. And the sober memories are equally as bad. Worse actually. I think I blocked a lot of that year out for some strange reason. LOL. Either that or I was drunk the whole time and just didn't know it.

Hmm...

Anonymous said...

Hi Lisa! I'm one of the group with you who rode back to the hotel from the Mysteria signing in Atlanta. I was so tired that night that I didn't talk much, but it was great meeting you! I didn't realize you're from Oregon. Practically a local! I live in the Seattle area.

I love your story of how you came to the romance world. Amazing, isn't it, how something as innocent as a book can completely change our lives?

Emma Sanders said...

I've always wished I could just read books for a living. Not edit, not be an agent, not review. Just sink into the blissfulness of reading. Ahh, heaven.

Tempest Knight said...

OMG! I started back in the 1990s with Emerald Enchantment by Patricia Grasso. But my first vampire romance I ever read was from Linda Lael Miller. *wg* BTW, I still unearthed the books when I was moving to my new house, so I plan to spend Thanksgiving weekend reading them. Hehehe! My own "back to the future" thingy.

Lisa Pulliam said...

Hi Kelli! The internet really shrinks the world, doesn't it? By just happenstance I've come across most of you Seattle gals since nationals on the internet. I love it! Hopefully I'll see you again at the Emerald City conference :-) It is amazing that something like a book could change a life. I know that if I ever met Katie MacAlister I would probably drop to my knees and worship her for writing such a wonderful book that impacted my life so much. Then I'd scare her, and she'd run away and stop writing because crazy stalkers like me ruined it for her.

Emma, that would be Heaven, that's a great wish! Much like playing video games for a living. Now if I could combine those into two full time jobs, an 80 hour work week would be a piece of cake! I'd probably just need eye transplants, haha!

Oooh Tempest, that sounds like fun!!! Yummy food and good books. Recently when I went to my parents house I tried reading one of my old Christopher Pike books (man, I have dozens of those). It was a vampire YA. I just couldn't keep reading it though. But I did pick up the "Scary Stories," "More Scary Stories" and "Even More Scary Stories" books or whatever they're called. Now those were a fun read. The one about the spider hatching eggs in the cheek then hatching, still gets me every time. How's your new house?

Anonymous said...

Hi again! If you attend Emerald City this year, you will definitely see me there! Also, Katie MacAlister usually attends (or, at least she has for at least the past four years. She lives in the same small town that I do.) You really should make the trip up here!