Looking Back and Forward

During the pandemic, I wasn't reading. Like a lot of people, I binged TV, but it was older favorite series: Friends, Jem and the Holograms, The Big Bang Theory, etc. All of my friends were suggesting new shows. Finally, DH and I started watching them last week.

We finished the first season of Picard last night, and we started Ted Lasso last night. Do I wish we started these before now? Yes. Do I regret waiting? No.

I don't think I would have enjoyed these shows in the middle of the pandemic. I needed comfort viewing for the emotional support. While Star Trek: The Next Generation is a favorite, I would have lost it over Picard's bittersweet ending of its first season. At the opposite end of the spectrum, I would have had trouble connecting with the characters of Ted Lasso. Not with all the fury and agony swirling around me.

What does this have with the publishing industry?

Readers are the same. They may not be in the right mood to read your stories. I know if I'm feeling down I pull out my copies of Stephanie Bond's novels. When I'm feeling nostalgic, it's my boatload of Star Trek tie-ins, my comics collection, or the Oz series. If I'm super-stressed, then it's romances.

Not everyone is going to love my stories. But more likely they haven't had time to read them yet. And I say that as someone who has roughly 3,000 books. And those aren't counting comics or GK's children's books I'd like to read to my grandchildren if I ever have them.

Otherwise, I may create a new position: rent-a-grandmother.