Eight Guilt-Free Hours
The book is the present. The time to enjoy it is the gift.
It took me more than twenty years to finally write my memoir. There were false starts along the way. I would find the time to begin, make some progress, and then life would change and the time I had created would disappear. The story remained, but the opportunity to continue wasn't always there.
Eventually, my partner gave me the gift of guilt-free time and the support to put everything else aside and continue writing. That was what finally allowed me to bring the book together.
I didn't realise then that the experience would eventually make me think differently about what happens after someone buys a book. A book can be bought with the best intentions, but readers still need time to read. That applies to a memoir, to memoirs, and to all the other books people buy with the intention of enjoying them.
Then people started telling me what happened after they bought the book.
Some people bought my memoir and it sat beside their bed for weeks or even months. They wanted to read it, but never quite found the right stretch of time to begin. Others started reading but hadn't finished because life had interrupted them somewhere along the way.
And then there were people who found the time to sit down with it and read the whole book in a day.
That made me think about the very different journeys a book can have once it leaves the author's hands. The same book can be waiting on a shelf, half read beside a bed, or finished in a single day. Sometimes the difference isn't the book at all. Sometimes it is simply the time available to the reader.
Maybe they just need eight hours.
That was the thought that led me to Eight Guilt-Free Hours. What if giving someone a book could also mean giving them some of the time needed to enjoy it?
We all have things competing for our time. Work, family, errands, housework and the ordinary responsibilities of life can easily push reading further down the list, even when the book is something we genuinely want to read.
Eight Guilt-Free Hours is a simple way of changing that. Instead of giving someone only the book, the giver can also make a promise to take care of something that would normally get in the way of reading.
That makes it an idea for all kinds of book gifts. It could be part of a Christmas gift, a birthday gift, a Father's Day gift, a gift for a man, a dad, a partner or a friend. It could also be useful when looking for a unique book gift for someone who rarely reads or someone who used to read more.
Give the time, not just the book.
The promise might be to cook dinner, do the shopping, take care of the children, mow the lawn, run the errands or simply take something else off their list for a while. The purpose is to create a few hours that belong to the reader. The book is the present, but the time is part of the gift.
The Eight Guilt-Free Hours Gift Certificate
Eight Guilt-Free Hours is now part of every printed copy of No, I Won't Buy You a Drink! as a gift certificate. The person giving the book can write down what they are promising to do to help create the time to read.
But the idea isn't limited to my book. The certificate can be used with any book. It could be a novel someone has wanted to read for years, a biography that has been sitting on the shelf, a memoir a friend has recommended, or simply a book someone bought for themselves and never quite found the time to open.
It can also be used with different kinds of books and for different kinds of readers. The idea works whether someone is already an enthusiastic reader, is getting back into reading, or doesn't normally think of themselves as a reader at all.
Why eight hours?
Eight hours isn't a reading target, and it isn't about expecting someone to finish a book in a day. It is simply a way of making the gift of time tangible - a decent stretch of uninterrupted time that can be set aside without having to feel guilty about what else could be getting done.
For some people, eight hours might be enough to finish a book. For someone else, it might be enough to finally start one. The number is less important than the decision to create the time.
It can be given to someone else, or yourself.
The certificate can be given with a book, but the idea can also be a promise you make to yourself. Most books are bought because we want to read them, yet finding the time can be another matter. There is nothing wrong with deliberately putting other things aside for a few hours to enjoy something simply because you want to.
This can be particularly relevant to people who used to read more, people who rarely read, or people who have books waiting for them but never seem to find the time. Sometimes a person doesn't need another recommendation. They need the opportunity to sit down and read.
The idea is bigger than my book.
My memoir is where Eight Guilt-Free Hours began, but I don't want the idea to belong only to my story. I want it to be something people can use whenever they give someone a book and want to give them a better chance of actually enjoying it.
There are people who love reading, people who used to read more, people who buy books and don't get around to them, and people who don't think of themselves as readers at all. There are also non-readers who might enjoy the right book and lapsed readers who would like to get back into reading.
The idea isn't limited to one author or one memoir either. Authors write books for all kinds of readers, and authors of memoirs, novels, biographies and other books all share the same simple reality once their books leave them. Someone still needs the time to read.
That makes Eight Guilt-Free Hours useful as a book gift, but the idea is not really about buying more books. It is about helping someone enjoy the book they already have, the book they have just been given, or the books they keep meaning to read.
The articles on this site explore those different experiences in more detail and look at some of the questions that have grown out of the idea.
The deeper thinking belongs in those articles. This page is simply where the story begins.
No, I Won't Buy You a Drink!
Eight Guilt-Free Hours began with my own experience of finally finding the time and support to write the memoir I had wanted to complete for more than twenty years. It became the starting point for an idea about books, authors, readers and the time we need to enjoy them.
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