Falling in Love with Multiple Reading Mediums, by Tracey Devlyn

For years, I read two to three books a week and sometimes four or five. I would devour an array of lighter Regencies before turning to the more primitive Medievals. When I ran out of knights to swoon over, I would plunge myself into a world of vampires and shape shifters.

On and on it went—until I started to imagine different endings to the stories I was reading. Before I knew what hit me, a new passion had slipped into my life. Writing.Let me start by saying that I love everything about the writing process. Well, I didn’t love the am-I-good-enough-to-sell-a-story phase, but I adore the rest. I enjoy the challenge writing presents and the creative outlet it provides. Writing is exhilarating, frustrating, tiring, and amazingly satisfying.

But somewhere along the way, the writing process killed my enthusiasm for reading. Yeah, I know. I was as shocked as you when I recognized this.

Two years slipped by, then three, then four before I realized how little I was reading. Between work, family, friends, writing, and sleeping, I had little time left to enjoy what used to be my greatest pleasure. And when I did find time, I would analyze every word, every turn of phrase, every chapter hook.

At one point, I couldn’t read beyond the first page because I would see techniques that I had been told I shouldn’t do or couldn’t do or if you do you’ll remain in the slush pile for the rest of your pathetic life! :)

Earlier this summer, I couldn’t take it any longer. I missed reading. I missed the simple joy of losing myself in heart-pounding love story.

So I tried something new—audiobooks. I’m lucky to have a library nearby that has a large selection from which to choose because I would not have been able to afford to buy them like I’ve always done with print books. For my first audiobook experience, I selected The Perfect Poison by Amanda Quick.

Not only was the novel outstanding (was there ever any doubt?!), the new medium helped me fall in love with books all over again. Hearing the narrator read the story took the focus away from the actual words on paper. This method of reading didn’t give me an opportunity to pick apart a section over and over. If I tried to analyze a particular turn of phrase, I would quickly get behind in the story.

With my long commute, I’m able to finish an audiobook in two weeks. Given how little I’ve read in recent years, I consider this a wonderful gift. In addition, I found Audible.com, which is an affordable way to download audiobooks to your computer.

After reconditioning my brain to follow the story and not the words, I’m able to read print books again. Not only am I reading a couple of chapters each night before going to bed, I’m now reading novellas on my Android.

This, my friends, is called Reader Heaven. I’m smack dab in the middle of it and I hope to never leave again.

Thanks to audiobooks I got my reading mojo back. And I want to bear hug publishers like Sourcebooks who strive to provide platforms in every shape and color to reach every potential reader they possibly can.

How about you? Do you use multiple mediums/platforms to read books?

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Tracey Devlyn is an award-winning author of historical romantic thrillers (translation: a slightly more grievous journey toward the heroine’s happy ending). Her debut novel, A LADY’S REVENGE, hits bookstores April 2012. For more information on Tracey, including her Internet haunts and details on her upcoming novels, please visit her website at http://TraceyDevlyn.com or http://RomanceUniversity.org.

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