"I just don't like to read."

I've heard that many times. And I guess I understand. Not everyone enjoys getting lost in another person's world. Not everyone enjoys laughter, suspense, romance, edge-of-your-seat excitement or drama. Not everyone enjoys a good story.

Oh...wait a minute. Movies are stories. TV shows are stories.

How can people not enjoy reading a book, but spend many many hours watching Netflix, going to the theater, watching DVRed shows? Why does the format of story-telling matter?

I guess I don't understand after all. Is it the time? I mean, yes, it does take a lot longer to read a book than to watch a two-hour movie. Is today's society just too pressed for time? Do they need the quickest form of story-telling possible? Is it something else?

Or maybe they just haven't found the right book yet. :)

The right book will suck you in and close you off from the rest of the world. The right book will keep you up til wee hours of the night, vowing "just one more chapter." The right book will grab you by the heart and pull you along on it's wacky roller coaster ride. No matter what kind of story you like, there's a book out there for you. More than one, actually. You just need to look ;)

Dealing with mixed emotions...

I've been using the library since I was old enough to sign my name on the card (back when you still had to do that). And in my circle of girlfriends, swapping books is the norm. If I read a great book that resonates in me, of course I want to share it. In today's economy, we can't all afford to rush out and buy every book we want to read and there are tons of people who cannot afford to buy even one book. Without libraries and friends, some people, including children, would not be able to read at all.

But now I'm stuck.

These practices are found to be completely acceptable........but not in the ebook world.

I am soon to be published as an ebook author and I fully support digital media. I bought a Sony Reader and I buy more books now than I have in years. But I hear so much about how wrong it is to share ebooks.

We ran into this years ago with digital music sharing (remember that lil' site called Napster??). Geez...when we were kids, I can't even tell you how many mixed tapes I had that were songs other people taped off their tapes for me or taped off the radio. We all did it...no one was making money off it...we were just friends sharing what we had.

I am 100% behind authors, and all artists, getting the money that they are due...always have been. And of course I want to reap the benefits of all my hard work. This is my career...I want to be successful. But I find myself stuck in the middle here.... If feels hypocritical of me to say "Sharing ebooks is evil!" when I myself have borrowed treebooks (paper books) from the library and from friends for as long as I can remember.

Does anyone else feel as conflicted as I do???

I'm poor but I want to read!!

What is a girl to do???

I feel completely under-read and I need to stay on top of my genre. But funds are tight these days and buying every newly released book in my genre is just not doable. I try the library, but it's horrendous. I picked up a book the other day from the shelf labeled "New Fiction". It was published in 2006.

Luckily I can request books from the library and sometimes they take a week, sometimes more to come in. And they charge you a quarter for the service. I can handle that.

So what do you do?? I so badly want to support my fellow authors! But in this time and place, I just cannot. I promise to buy books when I am making some actual cash!