Yesterday, the titles of the books I have to read for the Rita were listed on my contest page on the RWA website. There are six. I'm only getting one novella, the rest are all full stories. Gah! I was hoping for mostly novellas. Only one is an author I've read before. It's an interesting mix. Now if the books would only arrive so I could figure out how I'm going to manage to read them all before the deadline.
I've been listening to a book on tape while I've been at the day job (EDJ). It actually made me remember how much I liked to do that and that I should probably do it more since it makes the day go faster. Of course, I can only do it on projects where it doesn't matter if my attention is split like that. Right now, I have two things I'm working on. I can listen to the tape while I work on one, but not on the other.
The book is called The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. It's abridged and read by the author, but I'm finding the information he's presenting fascinating. It's non-fiction, BTW, and deals with marketing. While the stories presented are holding my attention, (I might go into more depth this weekend when I don't have to get ready for the EDJ), so far there's been no way to really put it into use in the real world. The examples of products/things that reached a tipping point have all seemed to happen either accidentally or with massive advertising budgets. (Massive at least compared to my advertising budget.) I don't think this will help me much marketing my own work, but at least it's keeping me entertained while I'm stuck in my cube.
Now I'm thinking it might be time to see what else the library has on tape/CD. Usually, I chose unabridged novels when I used to do this all the time, but I returned too many of them unfinished--which is why I stopped checking them out. But if I can find non-fiction subjects that are shorter, that might work. I'm actually going to finish The Tipping Point today--nearly a full week before its due back.
Of course, I also have all these RWA workshops on my MP3 player that I could listen to. Two years worth from Reno and Atlanta. :-) But that doesn't seem appealing right now. I'd rather find something more removed from writing. I feel like exposing myself to more diverse subjects--at least for right now.
