The Writer's Business of Reading

I've been blogging a lot in the last few months about what I have (or have not) been accomplishing every week.  These posts do a disservice to at least one part of my life, because one thing I do a lot of is reading.

I've always seen reading as part of my "education" as a writer.  As Stephen King said, "If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write."  I've always believed reading to be a good foundation for writing, which is why my education was in literature, rather than in writing.

Old habits die hard and I still read every night before bed, sometimes for quite a while, and often at other times of the day as well.  As a teen I finished about 5 books a week, nearly a book every day.  I don't read that fast anymore (who has the time, as an adult!), but I still read a lot.  I have routinely finished an average of a book a week for the past several years, but this year especially I've been finishing about three books every two weeks.

I completed my Goodreads challenge for the year (52 books in 2023, a book a week) a couple months ago.  At the rate I'm reading, I think I'll easily get to 80 books or more for the year.  Most of what I read is in ebook form, checked out from the library and read on my Kindle.  (Because I read so fast, I prefer not to purchase everything I read, but I did recently spring for Kindle Unlimited.  The jury is still out on whether I'll keep it long term, but I'll post about it when I decide.)

Reading is probably one of the most enjoyable pastimes in my life right now, but it's also keeping my writing muscles somewhat activated even when I haven't been writing in a while.  I'm also planning on getting a Kindle Scribe in the near future.  I love the idea of taking notes in my research books a little more easily, and I would probably even use that feature to mark up manuscripts I'm revising.

I'm always reading something interesting, whether it's research for my 1920s vampire series, similar genre books, or particularly interesting nonfiction.  Feel free to visit my Goodreads profile, view my reading challenges, and follow me on Goodreads!

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