writing | Holla Dean

Day 18 of the Spanking Blog Challenge

I think all writers must love to read. I’ve been a voracious reader my entire life. If it hadn’t been for the public library my parents would have gone broke. I often received books for Christmas gifts. My parents would buy me Fall River Classic books. One year I received three of them and was so excited I had a hard time deciding which one to read first. Alice in Wonderland or Arabian Nights. Or should it be Tarzan of the Apes? If my memory serves, Tarzan won out.My bedroom was just off the dining room and my father would often sit at the dining room table and read under the light of the chandelier. I shared a room with my little sister who was afraid of the dark so the door had to always be left open an inch or two. This caused a beam of light to shine across one end of my bed. I would read in that few inches of light, sliding my book up and down the beam, hoping my father wouldn’t get tired too soon. Hoping I could finish at least the chapter I was on. Years later, I learned he knew of my late night reading by the thin beam because he could see the movement of my book if he glanced at the door and let his eyes follow the light. He had no problem with me staying awake if I was reading.

I wish I had time to read more. My Kindle is packed with ebooks waiting to be read. The top of the filing cabinet in my office has two stacks of books and the shelf behind those stacks has more books. All waiting to be read. See that empty space to the left? That’s where the 7 books that are on the corner of my desk used to be. They’ve made their way to the soon to be read pile.

Nearly every time I read an excerpt from one of you spanking authors, I want to buy that book. It’s a damn good thing I don’t like every sub-genre or I’d go broke. There are more books out there (and I’m talking about good books) than I’ll ever be able to read and that makes me sad. How many wonderful stories are there that will never make it to my Kindle or bookshelf?