Reading to Write

Since beginning my own writing, I find my reading has changed drastically.  This change is both good and bad.  I find it hard now to lose myself in a book the way I used to.  Instead of guessing where the characters will end up next, I find I pay more attention to the way the author writes.  Word usage, dialogue, showing versus telling.  These are the things I pay attention to when I'm reading.  I hate to say it, but in a way my writing has ruined my joy for reading anything and everything I can get my hands on.

A few months ago, there was a book everyone was talking about.  I don't want to say the name because I wish everyone success in his or her career.  I read it because everyone else was and I absolutely hated it.  It took everything I had to get through it from beginning to end.  I couldn't get past some of what I considered unrealistic dialogue and the word choice.  It didn't feel natural to me.  This distracted me so much there was no way I could simply enjoy the characters and nuances of the story.

Most of the time, I don't find myself hating the book but I still rarely read simply for enjoyment anymore.  Rather, I read to learn.  By reading others' works, I learn new things about my own writing.  I learn what I like and what I don't like.  For instance, I don't like sad or tragic endings.  I can't enjoy it. For me, reading is escaping from the mundane and terrible things real life may bring along the way.  I don't need to experience more such things in my reading.  I need happy.  I need love.  I need humor.  These are the essentials for me.  For me.  I know everyone is different.  We all enjoy different things.  Like the hundreds of thousands or even millions of people who enjoyed the book I mentioned above.  It was a best seller for a reason, but I just didn't get it.

Of course, I have my go-to writers.  A couple of names I've mentioned in previous blog posts.  Their books are the ones I pick up when I need to relax.  When I need to live in someone else's head for a while.  And I find I can lose myself, if only for a little while:-).  Finally, I can read to enjoy and not just to learn to be a better writer.