I woke up to rain this morning. Music to my ears! I love to garden but a day off from watering everything is always welcome. Besides, everything in my gardens do better when watered naturally. So, I indulged in the extra time by starting a new book I had picked up from the library yesterday, “The Year of Less” by Cait Flanders.

Cait had written a blog about her ‘year of less’ but had not shared the whole story and so, wrote a book. As I’m reading through the introduction for some reason I am struck when she mentions that she began her year of less on July 7th, 2014. (See date of my post.) I realize it is just a coincidence, however, something within me felt like it was more. Like it was a direct message to me. I had checked out several books at the library and knowing there was no way I would read them all in the two weeks that your allotted for check outs, I had the idea that I would read the introduction to each one and then decide which one I would read first and which ones could wait for another time or maybe not be worth reading at all. (Quick note, I did check out one fiction book. They obviously do not have an introduction but I am going on vacation and wanted one book that was simply for pleasure. That book also caught my attention because it’s about a family on vacation at their lake cabin and we are going to the lake for our vacation. So it only seemed fitting.)

Along with “The Year of Less” I had checked out “How Are You, Really” by Jenna Kutcher. Both books coincidently have physical titles that are not capitalized. (Just realized that as I’m typing this.) I used to be a follower of Jenna Kutcher but had purged much of my self-help guru’s from my life when I realized that I was spending more time learning about their lives then actually being present in my own. When I saw the book, which is a brand new release, on the shelf, I was curious to see what it was about. Plus, I’m a sucker for a nice, clean cover and Jenna’s book is so new I may be the very first to have checked it out from this particular library. Anyway, when I got home and was trying to decide which introduction to read first, I somehow settled on Jenna’s and read it before going to bed.  

This morning, July 7th, I grabbed Cait’s book without really even thinking about it and began to read her intro. This is not a compare and contrast at all but I think it worth sharing that both introductions are well written and made me curious enough to want to read more. However, the intro for “The Year of Less” was shorter (go figure). One of my biggest pet peaves about books, especially non-fiction, is saying what you want to say in as few words as you can. Too often I find that writers repeat something they are saying, not so much to make a point, but to meet a words requirement, and it can easily turn into word salad. Jenna’s intro is not word salad. Like I said, it was well written and I do want to read more. I just felt that Cait’s was more direct. Ultimately though, it was the date, July 7th, that really seemed to capture my attention.

I believe in signs and signals. I think we are surrounded by them if we’re just willing to slow down and notice. I also am choosing to read Cait’s book first because I have heard about her journey before and have actually attempted to do something similar without success, so far. So I am very curious about what she has to say. Maybe, it will inspire me to try again.