Reading

Part of my job as a writer is reading (I know, tragic, right?). I would love to just spend all my time creating stories and writing them down, but without reading other peoples’ works, I would never be the kind of writer I want to be. I learn from other writers; I am inspired by other writers.

I get asked occasionally if I only read YA, since that is what I write. Answer: absolutely not. I love YA-I wouldn’t write it if I didn’t-but there are way to many great books out there for me to limit myself to just young adult. (For the record: I also have  a notebook with many, MANY non-YA plots jotted down in it-they are just not the ones I feel compelled to write right now.)

Yesterday, Nathan Bransford challenged his blog readers to support an author by going out (or going to Amazon.com) and buying a book. So, during lunch break, I headed to my friendly neighborhood bookseller and got FOUR new books. Bubba just shook his head and reminded me of the stack I already have to read. He is very patient with my book-buying tendencies.

The stack of to-be-reads...only the ones that don't fit on the shelf.

As you can see, in my stack of to-be-reads, the YA is far outnumbered by the non-YA. I will learn from each though, and my writing will be helped by my reading them-YA or not.

I better get some reading done before the stack takes over the house! Stephen King once said his ideal work day would involve four hours of reading and four hours of writing. I would like to live good ol’ Steve’s ideal.