Life in progress

#SoCS – The Digest Version

15 Comments

What ever happened to those hardback digest versions of books, compiled by Reader’s Digest? You know, the ones with the dark brown covers. My mother had a bunch of them when I was little. I remember trying to read a story out of one of them when I was a kid … maybe 10 years old? I think it was Moby Dick or Treasure Island or one of the old classics. I got bored with it. And I also recall wondering if I was going to read the story, why not actually read the story rather than a glorified synopsis of one?

Maybe that’s why they stopped making them …?

Or do they still? I haven’t seen one of the Digest books in years, unless they were in a used book store.

Speaking of books (and not to make this a sales post … I don’t want everything on my blog to be a sales post, but lately it seems to be all I do. More on that in a minute …) did you know Amazon has a coupon for $5 off, if you spend more than $20 on two paperbacks, until tomorrow? The coupon code is NOVBOOK18. I would be grateful if you bought one of mine, but it’s good for whatever you choose.

Which now brings me to what I’m loath to digest, and that’s that I can’t keep this up. I’ve spent more time writing and trying to sell my books than I used to, and the evidence is here on my blog. Or, I should say, the evidence is the lack of my presence here. Something has to give, and when it comes down to it, I have to follow the money. I need to spend more time doing things that will earn me money, or I’m not going to have the Internet to be here at all. Or food. I could give up food.

But it’s tough, you know? I feel like y’all are family here. And I don’t want to let you down. Nor do I want to give up the pleasure I get from contributing to this community I’ve built around me.

I won’t give up SoCS as long as I have a computer to host it on. Nor One-Liner Wednesday. But I may need help … no, scratch that … if I’m going to do Just Jot It January 2019, I’m GOING to need help. But I’m not sure how to do that anymore either, since WordPress has changed the guest blogging rules.

Suggestions are welcome.

I do know that I’ll be working a full time job (editing) in January, so my time will be very limited. I may drop the coloring club not because I don’t have time to post, but because I never have time to color. If anyone wants to take that one over, let me know via email at bacamjoly@gmail.com.

So that didn’t end up being a very uplifting post, did it?

Maybe next week …

I hope everyone has finished digesting their Thanksgiving dinner by now. For us in the rest of the world, it’s business as usual.

And no, I didn’t mean THAT kind of business.

Or maybe I did.

Damn not being able to edit!

heehee

SoCS badge by Pamela, at https://achronicalofhope.com/

This post is brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday! Click the following link to find all the other participating blogs in the comments, and join in! It’s fun! https://lindaghill.com/2018/11/23/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-nov-24-18/

Author: Linda G. Hill

There's a writer in here, clawing her way out.

15 thoughts on “#SoCS – The Digest Version

  1. I don’t know how you do it Linda! Advertising, sales, etc! It takes so much time! You should do what you need to do to earn the extra $$$ xxx

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  2. You do what you need to Linda. If I could help I would.

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  3. I have some of those Reader’s Digest books (along with some other ancient books) in the hall bookcase I inherited from my parents. No one touched them at the estate sale. Maybe I should pick one up and open it. Next stop may be the used book store to get some trade in credit. More importantly, take care of you, Linda.

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  4. All right! We’re doing Just Jot It January again this year! What logistical problems do you need to resolve with it, by the way? I’d be willing to do whatever to make it happen.

    Grandma used to get the Reader’s Digest Condensed Books. It’s sad they aren’t doing them anymore, although I agree with Melanie: there aren’t many books worth condensing anymore.

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  5. My personal opinion on the death of the Digest books? There stopped being really outstanding stories to put in them. No offense to anyone who writes (myself included); but when was the last time somebody wrote a “Tale of Two Cities” for example? Something that knocked the socks off everyone who saw it? And I’m probably taking too narrow a view of the issue, those hard bound books bursting with tales are a thing of the past as the e-reader and Kindle take charge. It’s not as simple as there aren’t enough good books around these days; but that’s part of the problem.

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  6. Pragmatic approaches are often necessary. Unless you’re willing to settle for reaching the Digest form of your goals.

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  7. I remember those Readers Digest volumes… They used to intrigue me!
    I wish I could step up and offer ideas or help in one was or another regarding your JusJoJan issue, but I have the same time constraints…

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  8. 1. 😀 Several of us have been commenting between our blogs at how many of us went to Reader’s Digest in one way or another. I googled stuff by the way for my SoCS. The magazine is still around and apparently thriving, but the condensed books stopped in 1997.

    2. Thank the gods you are not dropping SoCS! I’ve mentioned to you and many other folks that I’m truly kind of addicted.

    3. You said that your post wasn’t uplifting. I disagree. You’re having to be pragmatic because your real writing career is taking off! That is good news, uplifting, inspiring, and an I-knew-her-when kind of post! Big, congratulatory hug!

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  9. At least in Audiobooks, you can get an abridged version of books. And I think book clubs still offer abridged versions. But alas, Reader’s Digest seems to be gone. The best bathroom reading in the world.

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