Reading Guilt

So we World Fantasy judges are beginning to talk amongst ourselves, and figure out how we're going to do this thing. (And that's probably as far as I'm going to describe any of the process here.)

On the one hand, it's exciting to think about being able to pick out gems and bring them to light, and having a really good reason to read lots and lots of good fantasy stories (and, perhaps even better, a really good reason to abandon fantasy stories that aren't really good).

But, on the other hand, I'm beginning to feel guilty. You see, I generally haven't used most of my reading time for genre books (as readers of this blog will probably have noticed by now). I read a lot of stuff, and my "non-work" reading runs across a lot of areas, not predominantly fantasy and SF. That, I think, will have to change for the bulk of this year -- I need to read (or at least read in) all of the fantasy novels and stories published last year, while still keeping up my usual reading for the SFBC (usually I aim for two books a week).

I've read a few things for WFA consideration since I got the nod, but I haven't done it systematically yet (though I do have two dedicated WFA piles already). And, worst of all, I finished a mystery novel (Cinnamon Kiss by Walter Mosley) yesterday and am reading a mainstream novel (A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby) right now. So I'm feeling very very guilty at the moment, and I expect that I'll feel guilty over the next eight months, every time I pick up a book that isn't either a) under serious SFBC consideration or b) a fantasy published in 2005.

Worst of all, if I keep up this blog, you lot can actually monitor me! (Why did I ever think this was a good idea? Oh, yeah, the lure of the soapbox, that was it.)