What Are You Reading?

My favorite course in college was a fiction workshop. There were many classes and professors that I loved, but considering that I took my friend Ari’s workshop seven times – three post baccalaureate – it was the clear winner.

As you can no doubt guess from the course title, the fiction workshop was a place for authors to share their fiction with other authors, so we wrote a lot. But we also read. Every time I took the workshop, Ari very clearly spelled out the importance of reading:

“Be ready for me to ask you what you’re reading right now,” he told us. “You can’t write unless you read. So you better have an answer.”

Ari thinks anywhere is a potential reader’s haven. Waiting your turn at the DMV? Read. Sitting in the hall outside your next class? Read. (Although some might argue that studying would be a better idea in that venue.) Sitting in a theatre and waiting for a movie to start, stuck in an interminable traffic jam, accompanying your spouse to a social event you’d rather not attend – read, read, read. And where do you keep your book? Well, what’s that patch pocket sewn onto the back of your jeans for? I’m not quite that kind of girl; I prefer a suitcase-size purse that can hold a thousand page novel, hardback. Either way, we’re both prepared to read anytime, anywhere.

But my love of books extends past accessorizing. I’m just a tad OCD, and I keep lists of just about everything, including books I’ve read. I started my book list on May 29, 1996 (yes, it’s that specific – I warned you), and it includes the titles of all the books I’ve read since then, plus how long it took me to read them. Currently, I’m reading 903, 904, and 905. (Before you get too impressed, it’s not 905 different books; I’ve read some of those titles up to twelve times.)

My list also keeps track of what I read by the year. While I know I’m crazy for doing it, the list does have its uses. For instance, when I was in the writing doldrums last summer, a quick check of my list showed that what I mostly read for a couple months were American founding documents, how-to books on e-publishing, and several reference books that I reviewed for a publication company. While they did enthuse me in some ways, the story that I was writing at the time suffered. I just couldn’t get it to move because that creative part of my brain wasn’t getting the stimulation it needed.

Now, while I would have had an easy answer (or three) if Ari had asked me what I was reading, I knew that it wasn’t enough. I heard about people signing up for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), and I thought they were nuts. And it’s because I didn’t have the proper inspiration at the time. Even reading about brilliant authors and the writing process wasn’t enough, as helpful as it is with the craft. I needed fiction, good fiction – stat!

When I looked over my list, I realized what my problem was, and the solution came from a fellow avid reader, who showed me a book she thought I would like. I decided to go for it, and that’s all it took to get my idea factory churning again – and in a big way. In the space of two months, not only was I inspired to dig my red pen into a thorough revision of the story that had almost died over the summer, but two new novel-size premises were born. And then the biggie: I signed up for NaNoWriMo this year – and finished early.

So my question is: What are you doing to feed the writing monster? If you give it plain oatmeal and milk, it’s just going to turn into a sleepy kitten and take a nap. And that’s cute and all, but it won’t help you write. No, more important than reading any old thing is reading the stuff that keeps your creative juices flowing. What matters is that you read the books that stir your soul and make you itch to pick up your pen or typewriter or writing tool of choice. Then scratch away, my friends. Scratch away.