New Tricks For An Old Dog (Patricia Potter)

It’s excruciating for me to admit I’ve become set in my ways.

I’ve always considered myself a free spirit, ready to take off at a moment’s notice and infinitely curious about everyone and everything around me.

But lately time has become a treasure. With always present deadlines and an ill mother, I rarely have free time, and so I hoard it for those things I KNOW I like.

So I read the books I know I’ll like, in time periods I know I’ll like, and written by authors I know I like. I watch movies (on the rare occasions I see one) that – you have it – I know I’ll like.

Where has my sense of adventure fled?

I was forced to find out when, as president of my local romance group, I had to judge entries in this year’s contest for unpublished writers. I said I would take the entries no one else wanted. And thus I received a number of young adult books, along with two romantic suspense left-overs..

Groan on the first. Hurrah on the second.

To my great surprise I was blown away by the young adult entries. They were all extremely well written, imaginative and creative. Wanted to read more of all of them. Envied the editor who was going to be the final judge in the category. I would have bought each one of them.

Then I received my copies of the RITA books to judge. For those in this community who are not members of Romance Writers of America, the RITA is its top award for books published the previous year. Our members send in the books and their contemporaries judge them.

I received my packet six days ago. Seven books. I have a mixture from paranormal to historical to contemporary to spicy to inspirational. It always feels a little like Christmas when that box comes each year.

I never would have picked up any of them in the book store. Not because I thought they would be bad, or didn’t like the authors, but just because I save my time for something I KNOW I’ll really, really, really like.

I’ve since read two and am as happy as a pig in a mud bath They were fresh and different and delightful, and make me wonder why I don’t experiment more. Hey, I’ve been depriving myself of some very good stuff.

It made me think of a not-so-recent experience. I live in Memphis, have for ten years and visited for a number of years before that. Never had been to Graceland -- Elvis's legendary home. Never wanted to go. In fact, I avoided it like the plague. I was much too sophisticated in my tastes for that. But two friends visited with the sole aim of going to Graceland. I was forcibly taken to Memphis's most famous landmark. I was astonished. I loved it. I loved every moment of it. It was like being in a time warp. I was carried back to the sixties and seventies and was enthralled. So much for preconceived ideas.

So my new resolution is to break away from the old and tried and start experimenting again with new genres, new (as yet unread by me) authors and new experiences. That doesn’t mean abandoning those you love (particularly the Broads) but leave some time for something new. A new genre. A new author. A recommended movie that maybe you thought you wouldn't like. A short trip to somewhere you haven't been. A dish you haven’t tasted before.

It’s not exactly living dangerously, but it is adding a bit of spice.

So do you all try new books, new places, new experiences or stick to the tried and true?