Read Like It's Your Job

Because, when you are a writer, it is your job. Yes you have to write, bum in seat, pound out the words. But you must read. It's fuel.*

you will trip over books in my house

you really will

Nothing gives me greater pleasure than declaring my book and audiobook purchases as a business expense on my taxes. I feel like I'm cheating the system (but I'm not, I've asked my accountant) because I get to do something I adore and it's absolutely a vital part of my writing job. I imagine that, if I were an agent, I wouldn't love reading so much, because there are things I'd have to read (query letters, partials, fulls) that I may not enjoy. But as a writer I can be the titular magpie and read whatever shiny thing catches my eye. It all goes in the hopper.

I read constantly. I usually have two or three books on the go at once - one audiobook and two ink + paper books and sometimes something on the kindle as well. Some reading is for crit partners and beta readers, but most falls into two categories: My genre/peers and My interests (which is not always what I write at all.)

One thing that's helped me stay on track is the Goodreads reading challenge. You can see my books here. and see how I'm progressing on my reading goal of 40 books this year.

Here are my favorite books from the last six months. In the coming weeks I'll be reviewing each of them. And when I say reviewing, I mean spewing such reader/writer love and awe and gushing that you'll need an umbrella.

ELEANOR & PARK by Rainbow Rowell
WILD AWAKE by Hilary Smith
THE ONLY ONES by Aaron Starmer
IN THE SHADOW OF BLACKBIRDS by Cat Winters
WHEN YOU REACH ME by Rebecca Stead
CODE NAME VERITY by Elizabeth Wein

So, what are you reading? What have you loved this year and what's been a disappointment?

*when I say fuel, I absolutely do NOT mean plagiarism. This is something I hear from new writers - the fear that if they read too much, and in their genre, they might accidentally swipe something they read somewhere else. My short answer to this is - read so much that you are AWASH in words. That your brain is churning with words from lots of sources that you can't even begin to lift a phrase, sentence or paragraph. My long answer is coming in another blog post soon. :)

(Further) Bad Reading Habits of Randomly Effective Writers

I am listening to: We Are Going to Be Friends by the White Stripes

I know I'm a bad reader, but I guess I didn't think I was this bad. It's the last day of January and I've gotten 2/3 through the way of my January TBR Challenge book, A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb. This is no fault at all of Ms. Whitcomb. I'm really enjoying the book, but as I've said before I'm a reader of gnat sized attention span.

Piling shame upon shame is the fact that I've already abandoned one book (again, no fault to you Mr. Collins) and that the progenitor of the challenge is on book 1 zillion (OK - he's on his 9th book but thanks for making me look bad, Adam.) I will not accept the possibility of defeat (because I still have eleven months left) but I will accept the fact that I'm sabotaging myself.

The books this month that have gotten in the way of my finishing A Certain Slant of Light:

The Clocks - Agatha Christie (comfort read during a bad patch)
Matched - Ally Condi (heard a lot of hype, got on library waiting list, got book, made it to page 20. Feh)
Greyfriar - Vampire Empire - Clay & Susan Griffith (see above. Made it as far as half way and threw the book across the room. Need to find it and give it back to the library)
The Radleys - Matt Haig (same deal with library waiting list but LOVE THIS BOOK and devouring it. Pun intended)

Let me put this in perspective for you as I think I have two distinct problems when I read. First, I am impatient. When I first read Wuthering Heights, one of my favorite books, second only to Jane Eyre, I hated it. Admittedly, the first few pages are pokey. Not knowing any better I left it unread until years later when I discovered it's awesome. If I don't like it, I don't stick with it - a reverse of a flaw I find a lot of people have - hating a book and reading it all the way to the bitter end. Not me, sister.

Secondly, in any book, even a book I like, there's a part in the book (not always, but usually) when the possibilities are narrowed way down and the outcome is fairly clear. Duh, that's the way it's supposed to be. But I get itchy right around then. Right when the plot tightens up and you get down to brass tacks, because you know what's going to happen. It signals the end of the book and I don't like that. I'm not good with endings. I'm at the last quarter if my WIP and I'm slowing down to molasses, barely registering 1000 words every couple of days and this is why. I hate endings of any kind. I'm obviously stunted in my emotional growth and acting like a juvenile. True dat.

So, can I change my ways? Can I not pick up another book until I read Certain Slant of Light? I'm going to try, dear reader, honest I am. But can I read The Radley's too? Only that's a 14 day library book and I need to know what happens...

Libraries are like candy stores - sigh.