Rory Leighton Aronsky's Blog: Scraps of Literacy at Goodreads

I began using Goodreads in August 2007. I don't remember the exact date, but the information kept on my activities here tells me so. I was just an avid reader, wanting to keep track of what I read without having to resort to massive reams of paper and gallons of blue ink from many pens.

I love this site. I love the pleasure I feel whenever I mark another book "Currently Reading." I don't use the "To-Read" function that much anymore, because I keep possible reads in a folder in my bookmarks with links to books found on Amazon and other sites. I still get the same thrill whenever I look through that list on here, seeing books I had forgotten I was interested in, and my interest is renewed.

And now, here I am. It's January 24, 2011, a Monday afternoon, and I've been approved as a Goodreads Author, with my first book, "What If They Lived?", listed here. I co-wrote it with Phil Hall, a wonderful man and a then-fellow film critic (I'm now a former film critic, and much happier in shepherding my own work rather than the works of others), who invited me aboard his project of speculating what various actors such as James Dean, Marilyn Monroe and John Belushi might have done in their careers had they not died.

I didn't want to do it. I felt it was too hard, too much work. My mom said I had to do it, reminding me of all the first-time authors who struggle to find a publisher, who receive rejection notice after rejection notice, who have to pick themselves up each and every time to try again. I was being given a gift, a free ride. This book, Phil's second in his two-book contract with BearManor Media, was guaranteed to be published. How could I pass that up?

Reluctantly, I agreed, and I set to work on the research, which was slow-going most of the time and tedious. How could I make it to writing the essays? I did, and I wrote and I rewrote and edited and rewrote and edited and the process went on and on. Or so it seemed in a six-month span of time, which is what was given in order to write 18 essays, my share of the book, based on the list of actors given to me, and the opportunity to choose who I wanted to write about.

And now here is the book, on Goodreads, on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, and other sites I've not even thought of checking. Today, I just found out that my book is available on the Kindle. I will never buy a Kindle. I love the smell of new books and of books that have traveled well throughout the decades. I love the history inside books, notes on the margins, underlined sentences, results of a reader either trying to fully understand a passage, or reminding themselves of the sentences they so loved, just like I'm going to do when I receive all four volumes of Neil Simon's plays for my birthday from my parents and sister (Being that I have every single DVD I could ever want, I can't be surprised anymore, so I'm asked what I want).

But the Kindle. There I'll be. My name. My words. Sometimes my speculation (My favorite speculation isn't even mine, but rather what John Gilmore writes about James Dean. His final sentence in that speculation is my favorite sentence in the entire book), and definitely every single detail I could even think to include about these actors. I don't like the Kindle, but I'm all for making life more convenient for readers who are more technologically inclined.

I'm still stunned at now being on Goodreads as an author, but despite what you may think about other first-time authors, I've not fully basked in the achievement of having written my first book. You see, I've read this book so many times while I was writing it, that I have no need to go through it again, to admire what I enjoyed writing, to read John Gilmore's speculation, despite the greatness of it. I'm already doing research for my second book, which I'll only say will trumpet my love for literary journalism, while remaining entirely fictional.

I'm happy to be here. I never imagined I'd be here all the way back before I began writing this first book, but this is just outstanding!