Reading habits and the writing craft

The conversation turns to print vs. e-books: Crystal loved old print books until her toddlers (son 3, daughter almost 2) kept ripping them, so she caved and got a Kindle. The host buys physical study books to mark them up but keeps $3 Kindle match copies for travel; he once ditched a garage-sale Dickens that smelled of 'minestrone and neglect' and loads free classics like The Count of Monte Cristo onto the iPad, borrowing the kids' Wingfeather Saga from the library. Crystal describes editing: digital track-changes with a critique partner, then a final printout she highlights and crosses out by hand; Shackled Heart took seven years, so rereading it now is frightening. Her critique partner writes Christian suspense and kills off too many characters — Crystal once 'was done' when she killed one at the very end.