I don’t know about you, but as a writer, sometimes when I feel like I’m floundering in a story, or simply just stagnated creatively I need to read a book. I usually don’t give myself the freedom to read for pleasure because I feel as if I should be writing. If I have the time to read then I should be using that time to write. But creativity needs to be rejuvenated. Just like getting together with other writers and talking about craft, marketing, business can pump up your energy, reading can get those creative juices flowing again. Because I have learned as a writer that I’m not only reading for pleasure I’m taking in style, rhythm, pacing, word choice, and character development. I’m learning from these authors. I’m seeing how their world building works.
So this week I picked up a book I started earlier in the year, Blue Moon by Alyson Noel. I had only gotten forty some pages into it when I got busy with something or decided I needed to spend more time writing. The book didn’t lose my interest. No. That wasn’t it at all. It was me. I flitted to something else, watched television, read other books, short stories, novellas along the way. So it was high time I went back and finished this one and I’ll finish the Pretty Little Liars book I’m reading too and start another book I’ve picked up along the way, because I think I need to carve out reading time a little more. That’s my goal for the rest of the year. Read more.
Leanne Tyler 