I never thought I’d be ‘that person’. The one who can’t wait to get into my book time of the day. The one who has the story she’s reading (or even read months ago) still going through her head non-stop. And I sure as hell never thought I’d be that person who reads fiction!

I have been a book snob for many a decade now. I mentioned something in my last post about how I wouldn’t read anything fictional due to a ptsd thing from my school days. I’m not a listen to authority type of gal and if you tell me to do something, 9 times out of 10, I’ll do the opposite. So having to read certain books because a teacher told me so, always fiction in those days, I wouldn’t. Absolutely stupid? You betcha! But there you go. But out of it came my love of non-fiction. Searching for the truth.

True crime, biographies and books about cults became my go-to’s but history, especially local and American history and yes, I will fully admit, anything about haunting and ghosts were my weaknesses. However, as much as I loved it, I was still never a huge reader. Maybe a book a year for a while if that. I had better things to do and it was really only in the last 10-15 years or so things have changed.

Of course when I was doing research for an article, I’d hunker down and dive in, but even then, it was mostly looking up articles, sections of books and all kinds of research materials. It wasn’t like I’d sit and read an entire book on something just to find the one passage I was looking for.

Sure I got inspired by a lot of the stories I’ve read, (see on the bookshelf Woman Rising about a woman who escaped her father’s cult as an example), but I was ‘above’ reading fake stuff. Made up stories, you know, like the ones I write and submit to literary journals or the novel I just completed. Those kinds of things. 🙂

The last 8 years since my medical condition changed, my habits as far as reading and writing have as well. Once I was browsing Amazon and spotted some book deals and a title popped out that looked kind of fun The Bookshop of Yesterdays. As someone who always wanted to own a shop like that, I thought, hell, I’ll give it a try. If I don’t like it, I won’t finish it. And thus gentle readers, a book lover was born.

It was that book that inspired me to finally sit and write my own novel. It was something I had always wanted to do, the story popped into my head while I was reading and well, now I had the time being in bed and all. So if you think artists can’t inspire other artists, you are mistaken. In fact, I just happened to write an article on that very subject!

Anywhoo…you must understand also here that I am broke. Tough to admit but extremely true. So here I was, a budding book lover with no money for books! While I do run two micro-businesses, one an estate and vintage jewelry eBay based thing and another shop(s) where I design bookmarks, stickers, cards, etc, (blank journals too) they are wildly unsuccessful. I get sales here and there, the jewelry more so, but hey, those pesky bills right? So if I had a couple of extra bucks here and there, I’d grab another book or two.

It wasn’t until last year when I was at a dr appointment, I happened to look at the desk when I was checking in and the girl had a copy of Verity by Colleen Hoover next to her. I asked her about it, she was loving it and while I was waiting for the doctor, I ordered one for myself. Never a fast reader in my life, partially due to mild dyslexia, I actually read the book in one night! Then I was talking to a friend of mine about it and she said, “wait here” and proceeded to lend me two Colleen Hoover books . Again, not one to go with the pack, if I hear something is ‘trending’ I run in the other direction. But I was hooked.

Another thing about me is, I am completely OCD about the books I read. First off, I have to own them. I can’t check them out of the library. I am not an ebook girl. I have many on my kindle app, one, yes I’ve read several times because it is excellent and I have many freebies I’ve downloaded, but I have trouble reading for a long time on the iPad and like the feel of a book. The biggest rule for myself is that it must be a paperback! I absolutely hate hardcovers. I have some trouble holding them but they are just big, heavy and bulky and takes away from my enjoyment of them. I have a few from book signings that I treasure, but I have been known to buy a paperback version of them for reading purposes. (Yes, I am that bad.)

So ok, I’m now on the Hoover trail, right? Well, I got through four of her books, each read in one night and I got hungry for more. But I wanted to branch out. I started looking more and more on Amazon in the book deals sections and when something would strike me, I’d throw it in my save for later.

When the Read Every Day fundraiser for the American Cancer Society hit last October, it really got me in the habit of reading, well, even just a little every day. Unfortunately I had lost momentum durning the holidays but when the January blahs hit, I knew I had to pick it back up. After all, January is so gray and bleak, what else is there to do but binge watch, eat and sleep, right? I started trading screen time for book time and was getting more and more into it.

My mom had major surgery then and my routines had changed immensely during this time. My doggie and I had become an our own entity and I’d start to read while my dinner was cooking every night. Then I’d find, I didn’t want to stop once dinner was cooked and would pick the book up again. Next thing you know, I’m reading a few hours every night, which led to the next fundraiser in May and now I’m averaging about a book a week!

On my facebook page for this site, I post about the books I read. Books I still can’t believe I love but can’t get enough of. My old non-fiction snob of self is now all about Emily Henry and Kristan Higgins escapism and I live for each and every one. But again, how does someone with no money afford to get this amazing stack pile of paperback trophies?

I did get lucky over the summer with my jewelry business and would put aside like $5 here and there towards my obsession. But when sales came to a halt in September, that money of course had other priorities (please let the holidays change that trend).

i belong to a number of cashback apps and the rewards for a few of them can be gift cards. So I started hoarding my points and cashing in the gift cards (and the cash) to put towards my beloved books. Another thing I do, which is a test of my patience, is wait until the sales hit. I am constantly checking my Amazon cart for the beloved “messages about your cart” deals to see what prices have decreased. I also look for the book deals themselves, sometimes they do “buy 2 get 1 free” or have coupons on them, etc. Today’s deals, are a good place to start as well. Combine all that with say, Prime Days and like today, I got two books that I had bought during the October days, with a gift card and a coupon and only paid $3!

So while it looks like I’m spending hundreds of dollars on my books, in reality I am not. I am very frugal about how I buy my books and some I’ve actually had sitting next to me for a year or two, it just wasn’t the right time to read them. Or, I will snag them while they are on sale, but I have a TBR list ahead of them to read. So when I post, it just looks like I’ve recently bought them. But if you budget it right, work the deals and the gift cards, you can easily compile a nice little library like the one I have this past year. Plus, your Book Mail days will feel even better because you’ve earned them!

I’ll throw some links for you at the end of this for the cashback apps if you are interested in checking them out. Hey, with the holidays coming, every dollar counts, right? (Btw, you can play games on one for points as well, don’t even need to buy anything!) But getting you to sign up for stuff isn’t the point of this post. The point is that sometimes the things we do for ourselves can be the most important things of all. These past months personally have been tough, but to be able to escape into something else, to get away mentally when I couldn’t physically? I wouldn’t change that for the world.

I’d also like to add that another great way of affording your next read is by checking out thrift and library shops. Our local library system has their own bookstores filled with volumes that have been donated and you can get some amazing books at highly discounted prices while supporting the library. So don’t ever count that out as well!

This may be my own thing, you may have yours. But I’m just here to tell you that somehow there can be a way to make it work.Even if it is something simple like buying a book. 🙂

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Thanks for reading and whenever you need a little inspiration for your next read, you can always check out my On the Bookshelf page here on the site! I have lots of different genres on there and will be updating as much as I can. 🙂

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Cashback apps to check out, use my codes for extra sign-up bonuses:

Fetch Rewards – this is not only for shopping and such, but I play games thought this as well and earn lots of points that way. This way, no money laid out and more books coming in!

TopCashback

Rakuten

Coinout App (no referral link there, check the App Store sorry)

And always be sure to look up Amazon Book Deals!