The Word that Can't Be Said

As most of you know, I recently finished writing Book #2 of my WWI trilogy. The setting for this story is a hospital in France during the Great War. With this setting, the word b-l-o-o-d inevitably came up.

Problem is, I can't see, read, talk or even listen to stories involving blood without getting squeamish. To illustrate just how bad it is, a few weeks ago I attempted reading a Magic School Bus book to one of my kids. One of the students in the story had a cut and the class shrank in size, as they do, and went to explore her veins. I made it only a few pages before I had to stop reading the book altogether. It was making me sick just reading the scientific information about veins out loud!

Needless to say, it was a big feat for me to even describe blood in my book. There's a scene where the heroine cuts her hand with a pair of scissors, and boy did it take great courage to "write" about even a little blood. Maybe I'm getting better, because a later scene with some references to blood weren't as tough to write.

Then again, this whole post has me squirming over the topic! :)

Are you as squeamish as me?

Over and Over Again

I'm a reader who enjoys re-reading books on occasion. Books like Beth Pattillo's Jane Austen series, She Walks in Beauty by Siri Mitchell, Austenland by Shannon Hale, The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James, and others.

I think the fiction book I've read more times than any other, though, is Beauty by Robin McKinley. I first read it as a teenager, and as you can tell from the worn binding, I've enjoyed it many times since then. (My copy has the 1985 cover on it - way different than the current cover!)

The beautiful writing, the well-thought retelling of Beauty and the Beast, the fairy-tale magic, and the romance make this book one of my all-time favorites.

Have you read Beauty? Do you like to reread books? Which book(s) have you read over and over again?