Confessions of a Book Addict

So, this is something a little bit unusual for me. I'm staging my own intervention of sorts. Why?
Well, let's get the formalities out of the way first;
Hello, I'm Matthew Williamson (insert droning hi Matthew here) and I... Am addicted to books!

I know, not the most out-there decree, BUT its a definite problem.
I've always had my suspicions that I had more than just a passing fling with the written word when I noticed I would start to go full Matilda and just go into a library and Max out my card with just anything I hadn't yet read. And soon it came to a point where I had to juggle libraries because I would read so much from the local ones that I had to outsource myself. All the while I would still borrow from my friends. I'd say I average 3 books at any one time, not including audiobooks.
But there were two moments that made me truly accept my problem. The first was when I started hiding books from my Goodreads page, not out of shame I was reading the books themselves, just because of how many I already confessed to be reading at at the same time.
The second was today when I came to return my most recent conquests to the library and perhaps take out one or two more.. And instead came back with a bag literally full of books! All bought, with my library card unfortunately neglected.

This is the collection of bought books

Of the past 2 weeks. Ignoring all borrowed, 

And 5 kindle downloads. Yikes.

Some of those books listed I bought just because I stumbled across them I'm a charity shop, looking all dusted and neglected like a poor paperback orphan, but still had that new book smell. (Side note: not that I am saying an orphan would smell pleasant. Or unpleasant! So I guess that part doesn't really work with the analogy..). So!e of those probably won't even get read for a period of time, due to another marathon of books I already need to get around to, but they'll at least be appreciated on my shelves!

I don't know what I can do about it. I can justify and pretend "oh its all research!" But then I'd just feel a whole extra guilt complex when I wouldn't find any inspiration in one. Maybe I should just live with it? Afterall, I can still afford my rent and food. But I think the safest course of action has to be a full scale intervention. 

So here it is. 

If I insist on another book, I have to have at least finished 4 of those new purchases, and can only buy one at that point! 

It's up to you internet to make sure I keep to this (not that you can, you may be an omnipresent device, but you can't actually SEE that I'm reading them, but it at least helps me feel like passing the pressure on) 

So here we go! 

Follow Matt on Twitter @Chromosoner

And you can also buy his two books Midnight Heat and From The Inside Out on amazon - proceeds of which go to CCUK.

And if you have any questions, he is an avid stalker of Goodreads, so is more than happy to answer any on there.

The Catchup / Update

So it occurs to me that I haven't really had an update since I actually released my second book (Midnight Heat available at all good amazon links *plugplugplug*) and there's been a few reasons for that.

The first is simply through the sheer exhaustion of dealing with the book and working on the best reception it could face, which proved more complicated than initially expected. On top of that I was also preparing to move, and wound up without medication twice in this time due some delivery issues! So quite expectedly my health went all higgledy pig.

 Artist impression of what higgeldy piggeldy might look like

It got to a point where I heard i sound unexpectedly - even so much as my roommate coming through the front door, my stomach would lurch and at least contemplate being sick.

So that all sucked. On the upside though, my roommate is actually amazing, and helped create such a relaxing atmosphere. And stepped in to demand I write some more, which I had thrown on the back burner as something to not even think of touching whilst still had a second book to promote.
And now, I'm back with my pills, the dust has settled (and totally been brushed up, I swear!) on my new place, and I'm writing again. And that has me in a pretty comfortable spot right now.
So whether this writing will transpire into a third book to throw around to different publishers, or simply just be another for my (virtual) drawer to occasionally look at and smile through, it's the start of something.
 And sometimes, even when we cant make it to the end, whatever part of the journey we involved in, can be pretty amazing.

You're Never Weird On The Internet [Almost] book review

I knew nothing about this book until passing by Waterstones on its release day. Felicia Day with a book?
It suckered me in, and though I didn't buy it at this point, I walked away thinking about it for days. I resolved to sample on the kindle - afterall, I knew she was funny on the various shows I had seen her on, and one of my favourite characters from Dragon Age, but how would I really feel about that adorably neurotic character made flesh, the veil falling down?
I couldn't stop myself - I actually read the sample section twice in the time it took for me to go from that to being able to grab that tempting Waterstones book. And from that point on I have struggled to put this book down. No exaggeration to say that there was periods of my day where I didn't dare read it because I knew I had something else to do and wouldn't be able to pull away from it.

And this was before it truly hit me.

The book by and large is a very witty account of her sheltered upbringing and shed so much light on this woman who had turned up in almost every avenue of my life in recent years but never knew all that much about. Felicia goes into very intricate details of her homeschooled upbringing, as well as going to and from different career ambitions and dealing with trying to fabricate an identity for herself. And that is all well and good, but as it approaches the final two chapters, things take a darker turn.

Suddenly that playful voice of hers skittishly reading along in your head turns somber, as the talk comes to the likes of stalkers (being trapped in a negotation for someone trying to buy her hair and fingernails from her / people breaking into her house etc) to the topic of the relatively recent #GamerGate and the confusion of social political issues getting muddied in the venom of shaming for the sake of shaming. Not to mention rather frank talks of depression, which I found all too familiar.

But what I love most about this book is that, though not afraid to get truly serious, there is never a real sense of someone dishing the dirt on people, or superiority - indeed Felicia seems to quite willingly throw herself into blame if there is a glint of opportunity to present itself. And never does the book become too morbid; even sprinkled throughout is her own witty voice guiding us and offering a perspective, and leaving with an empowering sensation afterward.

The only criticism I could voice is that I would have enjoyed more detail on her time on Supernatural, or more interestingly for me Dragon Age II where she managed to not only be included as a character, but then offered the license for her own mini web series of that! That I would have found interesting. But wanting more is rarely a bad thing, and here there was still plenty to love.


I'm normally a sucker for an autobiography, but very rarely do they prove to become genuine favourites - let alone shortly after closing the final page.


And for that, I am very jealous of her gift of writing.

My book From The Inside Out 

Felicia Day's slightly better book You're Never Weird On The Internet [Almost]