After doing an interview with The Grim Tidings Podcast with awesome author Bradley P. Beaulieu last night, I was encouraged to try audiobooks again. I haven’t gotten into audiobooks as much as I’ve liked, mostly because I still enjoy just reading and listening to music while I do so. It’s just a simple pleasure I have. However, I read the sample of Bradley’s book The Twelve Kings in Sharakhai and really enjoyed it. It’s exactly the kind of fantasy I seek out. It’s got interesting characters, has gods and goddesses, magic, blood, and plenty of action. Plus, the setting is heavily influenced by Arabian Nights and Greek mythology, both things I’m intrigued by. Therefore, I purchased the audiobook and re-signed up for Audible. Yet, there was still a problem. When in the hell am I going to find time to listen to audiobooks when I’ve already struggled wedging in time in the past?

My solution? Working out and listening to audiobooks.

Cartoon image of a man with brown hair and wearing white sleeveless shirt paired with blue shorts and white rubber shoes with blue accent looking happy as he rides a gym equipment for cardio exercise

You may think, “So what? There are lots of people that do that.” Yeah, and I’m going to be another one. I have about a dozen audiobooks I picked up when I was an Audible member before, so my plan is to ride my exercise bike for the length of a chapter. If the chapter is 20 minutes, I ride for 20 minutes. If it’s even longer, I do the same. If I get in the flow, I might even start doing different exercises for different books. For example, sit-ups might be associated with The Vagrant by Peter Newman. Lunges could be The Dinosaur Lords by Victor Milan. It just depends.

All in all, I’m willing to give this a try. I need to lose weight anyway and doing something is better than nothing. Immersing myself in fantasy while doing something I loath (exercising) might just be the kick in the ass I need!