Confessions of a Book-a-holic....

It has been one of those weeks that has rushed by. It's been nice that the workdays have passed in a blur but it also means my evenings have passed by in a blur also. I'd like to say I don't know where the time went but I do: homebuying is a time consuming business.

Yet my house hunt is over; at least for now. My offer was accepted and all I need to do now is spend a lot of money so it can actually be mine. There are so many little things to be done: title insurance, home insurance, home inspections....then there's the down payment. Yet, I have a steady job. I have a little nest egg. If all goes well, I'll be living in my new home in less than three months. It's a nice prospect.

As a writer, I realized that as I was touring the homes, I was mentally asking myself if I thought I would be able to write in that house. There were some that had an easy answer of yes. Others, no matter how cute and nice they were just felt wrong. I think I'll be able to write in my new home. It has a little patio. There are three bedrooms; one for me, one for guests and one that I am bound and determined to make my library/office. It probably will be more of an office than a library because it's not that big of a room and I have a few too many books to cram into that room. I seem to collect books even when I try not to. Truth be told, I can't bear to see a book be thrown away or underappreciated. Sometimes I buy used books just to give them a home, even if I already have them. This is why I have two hardback copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The library was selling one for $1. It seemed such a shame to leave it there so it became mine.

This is probably why I have so many books. Also, I think I'm a book addict. I wonder if there's a support group for that. "Hello, I'm Captain Monkeypants and I'm a book-a-holic." I mean, I can't not buy books, I panic if I have to get on a plane and don't have at least 3 books: One that I'm already reading, one for backup and one just in case the backup book is bad or reads superfast or if I'm delayed and have extra-reading time. Sometimes, on long flights, to England I take four books. I always have a book nearby or, at least, access to a source of books. If I don't read for a while, I start feeling like something's missing in my life and I go on a binge where I read four or five books in a short time frame so that uneasy feeling disappears. Yup...when I type it out, I realize I'm a book-junkie.

Yet I can't help it. Books have always been there for me since I was old enough to turn the pages. Over the years my tastes have changed but my love of reading hasn't.

I love having enough books that I can divide them into sections which most likely only make sense to me. There's my "Books I adore and that have inspired me" that features books by Neil Gaiman, Stephen King's On Writing because without that book, I wouldn't be a novelist. There are some stray Harry Potter books there because I have doubles. There are some reference books but it's a hodgepodge that makes sense to me. I have a classics shelf with all of the literature that I've collected. There's my Fantasy/Sci-fi/Horror shelf. I also have a "fun books" shelf that has some of the good "chick-lit" books I've liked, primarily Marian Keyes and Jennifer Weiner. There's my "just great books" shelf that houses books like I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb, Middlesex by Jeffrey Eurinides, The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay and Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon. This shelf could easily merge with the "Books that have inspired me" shelf but I keep them seperate because...I do.

And then there's the shelf that houses the mounds of paper, the unbound manuscripts that belong to me. To a stranger, they look like worn sheets of paper that have been marked up and thrown in a folder. To me, they're the results of my hours, days, months of work. These are my books, ones that aren't ready to be labeled by being put on a shelf. They have their own place both in my library and my heart because these are my stories, I know these characters better than anyone in the world does. I know them beyond what I've captured on my pages and those messy piles of paper are my organized chaos.

When I moved from California, I tried to get rid of some of my books. In fact, I did donate a lot of paperbacks to the Salvation Army. However, it's been seven months now and, well, there's been a birthday and a Christmas and trips to the library and gift cards and....you get the picture. I'm going to need lots of boxes because those books? They're all coming with me.

That's the part of buying my house that I don't think I like...the packing. I feel like I just did that. Which, really, I did. This time, though, I'm moving less than an hour away and I can move in shifts. So my books will happily ride with me from my apartment to my new home and I know they'll be safe. Last time, I had to trust my books to a moving company and though they did arrive safely, I worried for them. Though, as a confession, during my drive from California to Ohio, I did actually transport one box of books, my favourites, the ones I feel like I couldn't live without with me in my car just so I could keep a watchful eye on them.

I know, I know, that just adds to the theory that I'm a book-addict. I can't help it. I am what I am. Though...as a writer of books, is that the equivalent of having a meth lab in my apartment? eek, gads...let's not think of such things.

I suppose it will soon be time to begin packing my books and everything else up again. I already have a few boxes, I'll need more. I always need more. I have learned that there are never enough boxes when I'm moving; every time I think I'm done...I find something hiding that has to be packed. I will take my time with my books though and I'm sure there will be one box that won't get packed until the last minute just so I can keep my eye on them and just in case I need to read one.

Hello, I'm Captain Monkeypants and I'm a book-addict.

Happy Friday.