I am not a shopper. In fact, my idea of torture is spending an hour or, gasp, even longer, in a shopping mall. It’s not so much because I’m frugal, which, as a writer, I am by necessity. It’s just that I wasn’t born with the shopping gene. I don’t enjoy going to stores, I don’t enjoy browsing. I hate listening to muzak and I certainly don’t enjoy trying to find a parking spot anywhere near the mall.
I also don’t like clutter, which is probably part of the reason I don’t like shopping. I regularly clean out my closets and drawers and donate items I haven’t worn or used since the last time I purged my possessions to Goodwill.
So it came as a shock to me when I realized I have a book problem. Okay, more of an addiction. I mean I’ve always known I’m an avid reader. But between my Kindle and regular trips to the library (did I mention I have library cards from four different library systems?) I thought my habit was under control.
Sure, I have a couple of bookcases, filled with books. And okay, I admit most of the shelves have stacks of books in front of the neatly arranged books on the back of the shelves. But, after months, perhaps even years of denial, I can no longer pretend I have the situation under control.
It began innocently enough. A neighbor gave me a desk with a couple of built in shelves. I was glad to have it, because it gave me another writing surface. And the shelves were handy because I could display some family pictures and keep part of my fossil collection out and into view. Also, because the piece is near my exercise bike, which I do ride regularly when I don’t have a chance to get outside and workout, it was a good surface to put the magazine or book I was reading while riding on when I was done.
One book led to another, and I slowly became resigned to using the shelves to hold some of my book overflow. I justified doing so, because the shelves held just books I planned to read and pass on. I never intended to let the books take over. But eventually, when I could no longer see the surface of the desk, let alone the shelves, did I realize it had gotten out of hand.
I know eventually I need to clear out the shelves and pass along books that I’ve read and probably will never re-read. But for now, I plan to just avert my eyes when I go past, and pretend that my book habit is still under control. I’m sure a lot of my fellow indies will understand.
View Terri Morgan’s Profile PageI plan to just avert my eyes when I go past, and pretend that my book habit is still under control. wp.me/p26xCM-6FM
— The Indie Exchange (@IndieExchange) May 22, 2013