Another benefit of not writing a novel.

I didn't realize until I'd done the novel-in-a-month-thing how much "free time" I have available to me in the wee small hours of the morning. I've been searching high and low for an hour to call my own, but someone lays claim to every one that I stumble across. The kid who wants me to teach her to write in cursive. The teacher who wants me to help her find a deal on a computer. The administrator who wants me to fulfill yet another non-educational duty. The little boy who wants me to read a book or play train. And I love these people. And I want to help. But that really cuts into my opportunities to do things just for my own pleasure. And, I know, there are some schools that would say that we shouldn't be focused on doing things for our own pleasure anyway. I don't know what to say to those people. Right or wrong, I need to occasionally do something for myself. So here I am. OK. I'm not going to get up at 4 am anymore; however, even from 5 to 6 am, I can get a little reading and a little writing done. I have a list of books to read. A few minutes each day with each would be wonderful. If you can think of any other suggestions, I'm always looking for a few more good books. (Fiction or non-fiction.)

Everthing is Illuminated, Jonathan Safran Foer
Saving Fish From Drowning, Amy Tan
The Girl Who Walked Home Alone, Charlotte Chandler (This one's a Bette Davis biography that my grandmother recommended.)
The Book of J, Harold Bloom

I've got a few more that I'm getting from "Santa Claus." OK. That's a cheaters way of saying that I'm buying it for myself and putting it under the tree so that I don't LOOK so lonesome at Christmas.