Leap Into Ink With Me

Hobbies, everyone has them. Some knit, some skydive. Some crave relaxation, inner peace and understanding, some adventure. I have a hobby that gives me both.

I have sailed the seas, walked in grassy lands, road trains and battled. I have listened to people's heart greatest desires, heard their heartbreaks and woes and watched them emerge from the ashes.

I have been a lone observer, part of a tribe and fought alongside warriors. I've sat behind school desks, ran races and fought mythical beasts. I have snuck through a darkened castle and fought dangerous beasts in darkened forests. I have fell in love over summer and whispered sweet nothings.

My fingers have smelled of ink, the hours whizzing away on a clock behind me without me even noticing.

I am a reader.

Through reading I have joined some amazing adventures, visited some fantastical places, and today I would like to take you on a couple of my favourite adventures.

First, we feel the ache of being alone even in a house full of people. We feel the abuse and shame that is constantly pushed upon us. Then the excitement of a letter and the dread of being kept away. The fear of learning things about oneself one did not know, crazy, insane, earth shattering things. The joy of a place to call home, of friends who are family and adventures bigger then our life has ever seen. The power of a wand in ones hand, of magic bursting through from where it has laid quiet in the depth of ones soul. The adrenaline of a life or death adventure and the pride of ones accomplishments. The love of a mother being stronger then all else.

The feelings a book can evoke in you are wondrous.

The characters that morph into friends in your mind are sometimes the best part.

Another favourite adventure of mine features a talking sword with a complex and a girl with feelings she refuses to acknowledge on an adventure bigger then either of them. You will befriend a talking sword, scream at the girl to acknowledge her issues and ride amongst them as a friend. Along the way are many fun characters. An older man with a drinking and anger problem who will make your blood boil just in time to fall in love with his bond with his daughter, an illusionist who has blurred the lines between real and fantasy. A beautiful woman who is not at all a woman and a small angry man who does not want to be there. There's also a lot of god and goddess talk, adventure, mythical beasts, blood, anger and booze. It will make you swoon with love for the characters almost as quickly as you bang your head on their stupidity. Then when it all starts to wrap up, it doesn't and you're left hanging on for more.

My last favourite thing in a book is when it arouses you, swells your heart, and makes you fall in love whether you have or have not in the past.

One of my favourite stories for this includes one of many, this set of books includes olden places full of beautiful people, conversations that will warm your blood and encounters that leave you feeling hot. Most of these are forbidden, hidden moments behind closed doors, or sometimes right under others noses. Leaving you worried and anxious with the feelings of being caught as you fall head over heels in love with someone you can't have, or never thought you would. While you drink deep, feeling dizzy, get angry and want to scream and then fall into bed with the person you'd least expect. You learn again what it is to be new to a body and the innocence of a first time encounter. These books leave you wanting for more each and every time without fail.

Between the pages of tantalizing fiction I think my favourite thing is the ability to create your own story within the story. The author wrote it for you in a very specific way, however within their descriptions is the little things you pick up for yourself. They never said that character was Caucasian and in your mind they are not. In your mind you have built this whole love interest that turns out not to be true, or back stories for characters that aren't well established. The way you can hate or love a character with a greatness that feels as though it may overtake you, and then meet someone who read the same story but has a complete opposite view of the characters. It allows every wanderer of pages to create something a little unique and a little individual.

Whether your climbing mount Everest among explorers, riding a covered wagon through mythical lands, skipping in a field amongst hole homes or flying on the back of a dragon away from great danger.

A book will always welcome you home.