Great Writers....Read?

You've probably heard this sage advice before. In fact, it's old enough and prevalent enough, that when you hear it, or see it, you roll your eyes and wonder, "How can anyone think that way?"

What am I talking about? The idea that some people propagate that reading is bad for your writing.

 

It doesn't make much sense, but many people that call themselves readers actually think this way. In fact, a family member told me recently about a Facebook post they'd come across - a friend looking for good book recommendations - where someone had commented along the lines of

"I'm a writer, therefore I don't read much."

Seems shocking to me, but I've seen it before. It's the equivalent of saying:

I'm a lifeguard, but I don't like to swim.

I'm a teacher, but I don't like kids.

I'm a police officer, but I don't like guns.

It's not that you still couldn't do these things with those attitudes. It's that you can't do them effectively.

It's not that you can't be a writer if you don't read. It's that you can't be an great writer if you don't read.

Why do some writers feel that reading is bad for their craft? Truthfully, I don't entirely understand their side of the argument, but I think it has something to do with some of the following points:

1. They think reading similar books will kill their original ideas

2. They think reading requires too much time, which they could spend writing

3. They think there isn't enough quality literature out there that could stand up to their own skills (I know that sounds snobbish, but someone actually told me that once!).

What I'm not trying to do is be critical of those that hold this opinion. However, I believe people, in general, don't read enough these days, and as writers, who thrive on readers actually reading our work, we need to work to change that.

So here is why great writers read:

1. To set an example

2. To support other authors - we are all in this together!

3. To learn from the best and the worst (yes, you can gain something by reading a book that is poorly written)

4. To engage our minds in healthy, creative escapism, essential to our growth and positive well being.

5. To learn more about our world, and beyond.

6. To strengthen and refine our ideas, and plotting, and characters .... this list could go on.

7. Because reading books is what convinced us we wanted to write them in the first place.

This is in no way an exhaustive list. I'd love to hear what you think: why should great writers read?

Dystopian Reading Challenge

I don't usually sign up for reading challenges, mostly because I read by what interests me at the moment, which changes based on my level of energy, and my mood. Also, because I find that my list of 'to-read' books just keeps growing longer and longer, as I find more amazing authors and compelling stories.

However, dystopic and post-apocalyptic literature is currently about 2/3 of what sits on my 'to-be' read shelf in the fiction of YA speculative.

And, it's quickly becoming one of my favorite genres. So for fun, I'm going along with it!

If you're interested in signing up as well, you have until June 1, 2012.

I'm declaring, for now, that I will read the medium level, of 8-14 books. Wish me luck (I've already done five this year, and will get to their reviews this month, I hope).

Rules:
This challenge lasts from January 1st, 2012 to December 31st, 2012
All books must be started on/after January 1st, 2012
Crossovers with other challenges are allowed.
After the challenge has started, you can decide to choose a higher level,
but you can not choose to go down a level.
All books must be dystopian (duh) and either Young Adult or Middle Grade (I
can't think of any MG dystopian though).
Must post all your reviews to either your blog or goodreads. Sorry, non
blogging folks!
Must create a sign-up post that includes a link to this post, the level
you've signed up for, and the button above.
Must sign-up before June 1st, 2012.

Important Info:
After each month I will do a recap where you can link your reviews, I will
also declare what the prize will be for the current month and the winner of last
month's giveaway.
Each month there will be a giveaway for all those who reviewed a book, each
review = one entry. The giveaway item could range from a gift card, a book,
swag, and more.

The Levels:
Easy: Read 5-8 books.
Medium: Read 8-14 books.
Hard: 15-20 books.
So Hard it Would Have it's Own Apocalypse!: 21+

LMNOP

Well, I felt like posting today partly because of a couple of fun books I found, and partly because it's the 29th of February, and how do you not blog on a day that exists once every four years? It sounds like something out of a fairy tale, or a sci-fi thriller, or maybe a mixture of both...

Anyway, at the library last week we (the kidlets and I) stumbled upon a book by an author I mentioned previously named Tom Lichtenheld. The book was called E-mergency!, and since I love everything else he writes, I picked it up and added it to my bag. And I wasn't disappointed. the gist of the story is that all the letters live together in a house, but one day E gets hurt, and by the doctors orders, nobody is allowed to use the letter E until she has a chance to recover, and O has to step in to pick up the slack. Makes for some pretty funny spelling. My kids can't get enough of it, and the illustrations add a whole new dimension to the story. I laughed out loud when I closed the book the first time, and saw the caption, "Look, it's and E-book!".

This book got me thinking to a novel a read a few years ago. One I picked up on a whim and absolutely fell for. It's a novel in letters, and it basically follows the same type of concept. Ella Minnow Pea is a young lady living on the island of Nollop in the Atlantic ocean, named after the man who 'supposedly' penned the famous pangram:

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

Hint: all the letters of the alphabet are used at least once. Anyway, the book is essentially a series of letters written between Ella and her friends and family discussing the political and social issues that arise when letters start falling off the monument established for Nollop, causing the island's high council, by divine will, to banish them from the alphabet.

At first, Ella and friends, find other ways of saying words with banned letters (my favorite is when the council 'renames' the days of the week. But as the alphabet continues to diminish, the text, and the task, become harder, and funnier.

This book is definitely not within my genre, but I considered it so clever and unique, it's moved up the list to one of my all time faves. Check it out, if you need a good read!

And Happy Leap Day!

For The Love Of Reading

A couple of days ago, I promised to write a wrap-up post on the theme of self-publishing (since I've been talking about it all month) and my thoughts, insights, and feelings after the research I've done. However, after much consideration, and some failed attempts at fleshing out the subject, I'm going to postpone that blog for another day. I'll explain more when that day comes.

In the mean time, because it is such an interesting topic these days, and because the field of self-publication is changing so rapidly, if I can across anymore interesting posts/articles/stories, I'll be sure to let you know.

I'd like to kick off the month with a brand-new topic for discussion - and it wasn't even hard to come up with. Because February is symbolically the month of love, I'd like to dedicate the majority of my posts to the topic of love. Not the mushy kind (though that's wonderful too).

The love of reading.

And writing.

And books.

And more specifically, giving our children the gift of loving to read.

My inspiration for this topic actually came from my own daughter. I scanned something I'd like you to read, but before you do, I'll lay out some back story: First, the book referred to, "Meet Kit", is a short early children's novel from the makers of the American Girls Dolls, and was given to my six-year-old daughter for Christmas from a friend at school.

Second, about two weeks ago, my daughter woke up one Saturday morning on the wrong side of the bed. Literally. And she never recovered. It was like a bad preview of what to expect in the teen years. Grouchy. Irritable. Moody. Pouty.

And this from a little girl who scatters sunshine everywhere she goes. Something was definitely off, and though she couldn't find the words to elaborate on what, I figured it probably had something to do with sleep.

So she went to bed early that night. Very early.

The next morning, I found the following note: (Note - I've removed her name and dubbed her 'lil miss' for privacy reasons).

Now my heart absolutely soared with joy when I read this (and yes, some empathy as well - anyone who's read late into the night knows exactly where she is coming from!).

Why? Because I believe one of the most important skills I will pass on to my children is a love of reading. Notes like these are positive signs that all my hard work is paying off. Disclaimer - I certainly am not encouraging her to lose sleep over a book, especially at such a young age. But it is nice to know she loves reading that much, already.

I have a background in early literacy, and experience teaching kindergarten and grade one. I'm not going to pretend I'm even close to being an expert in these fields, but for the month of February, I would like to share some of the activities, books, and ideas I use to teach children to read and write. They're not necessarily peer-reviewed or research-proven methodologies, but they've certainly worked for me and others I know.

I'm also going to highlight some of my favorite children's books and authors!! (One of my all time favorite subjects - Yay!)

You know what else? I'd love to hear about your strategies too. How do you teach kids that books can be fun, and make reading a pathway to future success?

And because I know that there is more to life than children's literature, I thought I'd quickly share two links with you. I saw these recently and thought they fit perfectly with my theme.

The first, from author Jennifer Clark is about an article she found about the statistics on how much people read every year - and the numbers are scary! She weighs in on why it's so important to make the time to read.

Also, writer Lisa Asanuma has proposed a special event for Valentine's Day 2012 - she's calling it Books For Lovers, and the idea is to go out an buy a book on Valentines day from one of the brick-n-mortar stores, instead of purchasing online. To find out why, and how you can support this campaign, visit her blog! It's an interesting post.

In the meantime, I have some reading and writing to do, because hey, I love to! How about you?