When there's much to do, I'm reminded of the Busytown game inspired by Richard Scarry's books.

Reading lots of fiction is a wonderful thing, but one major problem with reading lots of fiction is when...you don't have time read lots of fiction. 😦 Not ideal when one writes a weekly literature blog. 🙂

For me, novels have temporarily taken a partial back seat as I do such things as promote my new book, help with my younger daughter's expanding college-search efforts, and spend time (texts, phone calls, visits) related to a serious medical situation faced by someone in my extended family.

Consequently, despite having started Anthony Horowitz's Magpie Murders three weeks ago, I still haven't finished it. Nothing to do with being bored; it's a clever, skillfully written page-turner that's intriguingly a mystery novel within a mystery novel -- with characters who include a terminally ill detective, a best-selling mystery writer, that author's small-press editor who becomes an amateur investigator, and several people who die under puzzling circumstances. Usually, I read at least one novel a week.

Meanwhile, five other books I too-ambitiously borrowed during my last library visit stare at me accusingly. (Yes, not getting enough sleep causes hallucinations. 🙂 ) Those novels include John Grisham's The Associate, Elin Hildebrand's Summer of '69, Val McDermid's 1979, Walter Mosley's Always Outnumbered Always Outgunned, and Iris Murdoch's Jackson's Dilemma. I'll get to them eventually, perhaps in the year 2079. 🙂

Any thoughts about, and/or recollections of, not reading as much fiction as you'd like for a short stretch of time?

In a comedic promotional video for my comedic new Misty the Cat...Unleashed book, Misty speaks for 90 seconds -- perhaps hoping he'll get seconds after his next 90 meals? 🙂 The video can be seen here.

Also, many thanks to Colleen M. Chesebro for including a wryly wonderful review of my new book in a post that also looks at very interesting books by the very talented writers Teagan Geneviene and D.L. Finn, who each have WordPress blogs, too. Greatly appreciated! The post can be seen here.

The part-factual/part-fictional Misty the Cat...Unleashed is described and can be purchased on Amazon in paperback or Kindle. It's feline-narrated! (And Misty says Amazon reviews are welcome. 🙂 Several are shown here. )

In addition to this weekly blog, I write the 2003-started/award-winning "Montclairvoyant" topical-humor column every Thursday for Montclair Local. The latest piece -- about my community's new (and hopefully improved) Township Council -- is here.