Have You Ever Lost Your Kindle?


Last weekend I felt I could not put Kristy Berridge’s The Damned down long enough to spend twenty minutes on the treadmill, so I took it to the fitness center at my apartment complex.

You guessed it. I left it there.

It’s not the first time…

… I’ve done this. In fact, I’m pretty good at leaving life’s necessities in all kinds of places. For instance, I have a line item in my budget for umbrellas, because I leave them on the bus at least a dozen times a year.

And it’s not the first time for a Kindle, either. Last summer I left one in the laundromat. It was never recovered!

The initial reaction…

… was panic. I mean, my Kindle is on a par with my laptop and my cell phone, things I got along fine without fifteen years ago, but which the absence of now can bring on episodes of post traumatic stress disorder.

My life revolves around my Kindle. It’s not just all the books on there I love, neatly arranged into collections such as Richelle Mead, George RR Martin, ToBeRead, and Crap I Couldn’t Finish. It’s a major editing tool. I have a large collection of various drafts and works-in-progress, complete with highlights and notes, both from myself and my editing team. So, when I realized, as I was getting ready to crawl into bed at 1 am, that it was gone, I was, like…

Oh… My… God… I’ve…Lost…Everything!
I’ll never get all that work back.
My life is over. (Yes, I can get a bit dramatic about my Kindle.)

No, it’s not my fault…

… was next. A futile exercise in shifting the blame, ‘cause no way can I accept personal responsibility this. The guilt alone would destroy me.

Surely a guy like me (easy-going, amiable… old) should be allowed to leave stuff lying around, right? But, no. Some asshole will be sure to grab it up, read all the great books I’ve got on there (ok, should I begrudge that?), steal my yet-to-be-copyrighted work, then sell my Kindle on ebay.

Walking the floor over you…

… can’t sleep a wink, it’s true. Even though five minutes before, I was nodding out on the keyboard of my laptop, this woke me up like a double espresso shot. I stuffed my feet into my sandals and ran to the fitness center to check. It was gone, of course.
 
All my fears confirmed, I spent a restless night dreaming up a thousand negative outcomes of the thorough search I would perform the next day. One vivid scene involved the blood bath that would ensue as I meted out revenge on the person who stole the device.

I woke up early the next morning so I could pace the floor, waiting for the rental office to open at 1 pm, where I would begin my quest for vengeance.

Once was lost, but now am found…

I walked into the rental office promptly at 1:01 pm, loaded for bear. There it was, sitting on the edge of the desk in the reception area… my Kindle.  A beam of sunlight broke through the thunderclouds outside and bathed my Kindle in its ethereal light. I felt like the Grinch, my heart growing three sizes with the spirit of Christmas in July.
 

Next time will be different…

… because I’ve learned my lesson.

It’ll be a cold day in Hell before I take my Kindle to the fitness center… or the laundromat… or on the bus, again. No sir, it’s going to stay ensconced in its case at home, where it will remain safe.

Except that reading is the only way I can stand to sit on the bus for more than five minutes. And there is no more boring place without a book than the laundromat. And what else could possibly occupy my mind for twenty minutes on the treadmill?

On second thought, I'm not likely to leave it anywhere again. I will remember this traumatic experience for the rest of my life. It will remain in the forefront of my brain, so that there’s no… possible… way… I could neglect to pick my Kindle up off the front of the treadmill after a workout. It’ll be okay. Sure.

Next time will be different.

Have you ever lost your Kindle (or Nook, or Kobo)? What was it like? Did you panic? Just how much a part of your life did you feel you’d lost? Scroll down past the ads for my books and leave a comment.

Until then, Happy Reading!

The Draculata Nest -----------------------------------------------------------------------

Click on the link to order:
ebook for Kindle                                            in Paperback     
ebook for Nook                                              in Charlotte                    
ebook for Kobo                                              Smashwords


The Dragon of Doughton Park ----------------------------------------------------------
Click on the link to order:
ebook for Kindle                                                                   in Paperback
ebook for Nook                                                                     in Charlotte
ebook for Kobo                                                                     Smashwords
 

Comments

  1. James Garcia JrAugust 3, 2013 at 1:41 PM

    Yikes. So glad to hear you got it back, John. The worst I've ever done is leave it in my desk at work for the weekend. How terrible! You did crack me up with your "Crap I couldn't finish" collection. You're much braver than I, my friend. Not that it would ever fall into the hands of other writers, I titled my "Crap I couldn't finish" collection something more neutral-sounding, although it means exactly the same!! So funny!

    -Jimmy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. John HundleyAugust 3, 2013 at 10:45 PM

      Right, Jimmy. There's more in the Crap I Couldn't Finish collection than I'd like to admit, but no way am I EVER going to tell anyone what's in there. :)

      Delete

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