Monday, October 22

Obsession Confession: Waiting

WAITING. . . WAITING. . . WAITING

June:
Sweet Evil was amazing! I can hardly breathe I want more of the story.

July:
Is the sequel out yet?

August:
I am adding it to my wishlist.

September:
Finally, the sequel has a release date. Oh my goodness! I have to wait how long? 2013 is such a large number. 2013 is also so very long away from now. Not only that but Summer is such a vague date.

October:
Still so very excited to read Sweet Peril.

November - January:
Busy reading other books. Still excited but not anywhere near as ecstatic.

February - April:
Ugh!!! Will it ever come. I give up.

Near Publication!?!:
Wait, what is that? Sweet Peril is coming out, or already published. Dargh!!! I have to have it now!

At home with Sweet Peril:
Reading. . .
Wait, I can't quite remember what happened in the last book. Wonder if I should re-read it first. Nah, no time. Must read Sweet Peril.

(p.s. This in no way accurately encompasses my feelings toward all books. It is more of a general rule. Also, sorry Sweet Evil to use you as an example. It is just that you are on my mind a lot lately and I couldn't help it. Are we still friends? Phew!

(p.p.s How could I ever forget Kaidan Rowe? Well, I think that now but there are still months to go until the sequel. Time erases all things.)

I am no good at the waiting game. I very easily forget why I was so excited. And before I know it an author has slipped a sequel out without my having any idea. I feel so blind and unbalanced when I discover these gaps in my attentiveness. I swear I loved your book and I didn't intentionally snub you. I just got so caught up in the hundred other books I read while waiting that my mind became a bit befuddled. Given the choice I would probably prefer to live in your little fictional world. Sadly, not even a remote possibility. I have a semi-voracious appetite for books. You can't expect me to just sit around and be faithful to you and you alone. I just can't survive like that. But if I allow myself to wander even just a bit I will all to soon find myself way off tangent.

How much is too long to wait for a sequel?
Truthfully, I love to read all the books in a row. I would love more than anything to wait until all the books are published and it is a done deal. Then I can find out the general consensus on how the entire story turned out. No point in starting something I don't want to finish. I adore authors that publish very quickly. By quickly I don't mean a year. Now, I am not completely daft. As much as I would like to think that authors just wave a magic wand at their head and this fully awesome story just wafts out ready to be published in a pensieve, I know it is not so easy. It takes a lot of writing and editing and more writing and editing. A journey that shouldn't be rushed if I want a story that is any good to read. What takes them months to put together only takes me a couple days to consume. It almost doesn't seem right. Never the less it is the state of things and can't be helped. But I don't have to like it.
Getting and ARC makes it even harder to wait for the sequel. If I don't get lucky again and score an ARC of the sequel I will have to wait so much longer. I swear they lace those ARC pages with some sort of addictive drug. I can't help wanting to read them again and again. Oh oops, sorry for the random side topic. So waiting is hard. I do like it when authors will release or put extras on their blogs or websites. My absolute favorites are male POV scenes. Just so yummy. I think these help to keep the book in my mind as well as keep my spirits up during the long wait. When I say extras I mean the free type that are really only a handful of pages. I am not the biggest fan of novellas. More often than not they don't seem to really add anything to the story for me. If I can get my hands on them for free I will gladly read them. But otherwise I tend to avoid novellas. Perhaps that will change in the near future. I have read a couple that were really great.

What happens when you forget? Do you reread published books in anticipation for an upcoming sequel?
In my case, I just forget. I don't bother to go back and read the last book. My TBR pile is so monstrous I can't keep up. If I want to keep adding to the pile I have to keep moving forward. No time to look back. Which is rather sad. I like to re-read my favorite books. I guess I will have to start curbing my book buying so I can have more time to read favorites. 

So what about you?
How do you feel about waiting?