Today starts what actually feels like my spring break – even though it officially started Friday after my last class. But having to work still doesn’t make it feel like a break. Today though, I am hoping on a plane and flying up to visit my family! As excited as I am to visit my family, I am almost equally excited to not have to drive the 10 hours by myself in a car.
With flying, I get there in a quarter of the time and have time to write and read on the way. I’m hoping to use this break as a time to catch up on at least some of the reading I’ve been wanting to do for a really long time. Some non-fiction along the lines of psychology. Fiction recommended to me. One from one of my favorite authors ever and one from my fellow writing partners; J. K. Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy and Karen Lynch’s Relentless, respectively. I’m excited to read them all!
It’s important as a writer to make time to read other books in your genre. Or even just to take time to read in general since that’s most likely what got you into writing in the first place. To be honest, I haven’t read a book since last summer when I binged on Isaac Asimov for a while. School kind of dominates your life when you have a full class load.
Do yourself a favor while you’re too busy to actually read and keep a list of books you want to read. Make special note of those books that people recommend after you tell them what you are currently writing.
But most of all, make sure you do read if you want to write well. I was never big on e-readers and still have some apprehension with them. But it is nice to whip my phone our when I have time in a line to read another section in whatever nonfiction I’m reading. I do still prefer fiction on pages and with a cover. I feel closer to the story that way. Which is why I packed way too many books despite bringing my Kindle as well.
Just Ryn 