One of my worst habits as a writer is that I don’t do enough reading. At the beginning of October (or there about) I set out to change this. What’s the saying about lifestyle being made of habit? It was something of a journey to support that!
Since then I’ve managed to read almost every day. I made a mental note of some books I wanted to try, which helped, and even started a ‘Booktube’ channel for further encouragement. I uploaded an introductory video here and then my first review on James Herbert’s Moon my previous post. It was OK and definitely fun, so I plan to do more soon.
I’m currently reading Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King and Owen King (somewhere in Chapter 3). You may see a theme – but luckily it seems other people love, or at least have interest in horror, as much as I do!
I mentioned reading right before sleeping has changed the way I wake up in the morning. It’s kind of odd, how a book is just as exciting (let’s be honest, more exciting) than scrolling through my phone, yet it’s so much more effective at switching the brain off. I know, I know – screens and brains and science. But I like being able to feel the effect rather than just hear the fact.
Generally I’m now waking up properly, rather than groggy. It’s not a miracle worker that makes me want to get up and seize a 9-5 stack of papers and burn my eyes with a screen too bright. But hey, at least I have something to look forward to each day.
While reading I’ve also become a lot more in tune to my own writing. Going through Moon I realised I just didn’t have the prowess Herbert has to build tension and form a consecutive storyline. This resulted in me reworking the first four parts of my novel tirelessly – and that’s a good thing. Reading has reminded me why I want to write. Now I’m just writing instead of letting procrastination and doubt distract me.
There’s another saying about reading letting you live a thousand lives (and if you are also reading Sleeping Beauties you will be feeling this just as much as I!). It’s true – the more I read the brighter life seems to be. Books are like the glasses to all your minds eyes’.
What is everyone else reading at the moment?
Hey! Just to let you know, I nominated you for the Awesome Blogger Award which you can find on my blog if you have some time to do it 🙂 x
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Hiya! Yes I saw it, it’s on the pending posts list 🙂 thank you for tagging me. Hope you’re well! x
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yay for books! just wondering–how do you usually find books? i.e do you just browse bookstores or order online? 😮
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Hey! A lot of the time I read what people recommend to me and people are usually happy to let me borrow their books 🙂 I also have a bad habit of reading the same books over and over so I have what I need already!
I will nip into bookstores every so often – I don’t tend to pick anything up (which I generally regret tbh!) and I’m trying to change that! When I do buy it’s because a book stood out to me and didn’t disappoint when I read the blurb.
I know online shopping is convenient for people but I prefer not to shop on sites such as Amazon as they really undercut prices and take a lot of business away from retailers.
Thank you for commenting! I may create a video on this topic because it’s interesting to think about 🙂 xx
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