What are we talking about today?

I'll get back to theme days once I find a groove of posting regularly. In the meantime, most of my posts are about some variation of books, bikes, buses, or Broadway. Plus bits about writing, nonprofits, and grief from time to time.

This blog is mostly lighthearted and pretty silly. It's not about the terrible things happening in the world, but please know that I'm not ignoring those things. I just generally don't write about them here.

28 August 2010

Funny how habits change.

Once upon a time, I was a fervent reader. I'm not sure what happened.

I have not, of course, stopped reading. I've just stopped reading anything new; Chad is bemused, as were a string of roommates before him, at my current reading habits: I reread. A lot.

I turned my attention toward my reading habits this week because I'm still reading Steven King's book On Writing, in which he encourages would-be writers to spend lots of time reading, going so far as to dismiss TV as something writers should avoid. (I presume he would not give the same advice to would-be scriptwriters.)

So I wondered what happened to my reading, and finally realised that I got out of the habit of reading-- and in particular, coming home from the library with a stack of books once a week-- when I was an aim student. There were too many other things for me to do, and in Scotland I didn't even have a library card. Then when I was an aim assistant, going to the library wasn't convenient.

These days, my world has a lot of other interesting things in it (Blogger, Facebook) and I have been distracted from what was once my greatest hobby. Plus, I always feel like I'm neglecting my husband when I spend lots of time reading. Which is funny, because I read anyway, but instead of finding new things to read, I keep going back to the same old friends that I've owned for years.

But, Mr. King is correct; good writers must be readers. There is no way around it. So, I think it's time to pick up an old habit again.

Another gem I've run across in this book: Apparently, it's totally normal to imitate the style of others while finding one's own style. Thank goodness; all this time I thought I was just a bad writer. (I may still be. But not because of that.)

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