Reading is Writing Vicariously

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

          I have filled six monthly notebooks successfully so far this year. June was in doubt as I fell far behind when visitors were here, but wrote 7,471 words on 21 pages on June 30 to meet the deadline. It wasn’t fun, but I didn’t fail.

          However, my life is a bit out of balance right now. I’m meeting all my writing deadlines—monthly notebooks, magazine assignments, and Facebook essays—although sometimes rushed, but I am not reading enough. I have completed two of the twelve books on my summer reading list. I’ve started another, but I’m a fast reader. I used to read four books a week. Now I’m lucky if it’s two.

          I have been working on a big home improvement project while also entertaining visiting friends and relatives. That does lessen the amount of time I have to read, but I guess I’m too tired to disappear into books and use my imagination to flesh out the characters. I find myself watching more movies and TV shows. This is not a terrible thing except that reading uses different parts of the brain and inspires me to write.

I need to allot more time to reading because it is writing vicariously. The words are there—the rhythm; the style; the themes; the facts or the imagination. They are not my words, but, if the writing is good, I appreciate and enjoy the words. They make me think. They invite me to meld with them. They change me. And, best of all, they inspire me.

I just read a piece where the writer (I can’t find name) noted that words were her toys and she loved playing with them. That sums it up nicely. Words, whether I read them or write them, are fun to play with—and I need to schedule a reading and a writing playdate every day.

My word count for the week of July 2-8 was 10,072.  

Book Shopping Time is Now Writing Time

From Kate’s Writing Crate…


(I had grand plans for my December blog posts, but illness has changed everything. I love the Backpack Literature course I'm auditing. I shouldn't have scheduled it during the holidays. Rather than rush it, I'm moving my next Backpack Literature review to January 30th.

I've moved up posts I wrote in advance so I can rest up and recover. Hope to be back on track with book reviews soon.)

          Not buying any more books for a year as discussed in my November 14th post has already freed up a lot more time for writing. I didn’t realize how often I visited online book-selling sites. Some people facebook. I just book.

         

         Almost daily, I used to check out new titles and titles-new-to-me. Between recommendations from friends, family, and coworkers and book reviews, something always piqued my interest. Sometimes I would buy, sometimes just put it in the cart.

I confess I buy more books than I delete. If you are a voracious reader who likes to make books her own with underlining and marginalia, it’s hard not to buy books. Since most of my friends and family give me bookstore certificates for gifts and I give myself a book budget, it's easy to buy books.

Also, I read every day. I read more than I do anything else—except writing on deadline.

Yes, this means I get up very early so I can read an hour or two before my day’s responsibilities start. I read while I watch TV and when waiting in lines or waiting for someone. I do my chores and run my errands as efficiently as possible so I have more time to read.

My jobs require reading so even when I’m working, I’m reading.

I need a steady stream of incoming books so I never have to scramble for books to review and so I’m never bored. However, I created a backlog for myself (buying ten more books than I read each year for a decade adds up); hence, the no buying of books for a year.

I’ve changed my habits. I’m not visiting online sites that sell books so I’m not tempted to browse or buy. If I hear about an interesting book, I look it up. If interested, I put it in my shopping cart and leave the web site. If I visit my local bookstore, I’m buying only a writing magazine or two.

Now I have more time to write. With the holiday season here, I’m trying to write my posts and book reviews in advance so I can enjoy all the festivities.

A big upside to my new way of life, I’m saving money. Since there are always bills to pay, a retirement to fund as well as opportunities for family fun, this money will be well spent or saved.

I never have and never will consider buying books a waste of money or reading a waste of time. I’m reading the same amount of time. I’ve merely narrowed down the book choices to those already in my home. 

Once I’ve caught up, I’ll go back to buying books. There will always be a backlog, but I’ll never let it build up to the point I have to stop buying books for a year—maybe only a month or two.

You Know You're A Writer When

From Cheryl's Writing Crate

School vacation week is upon us once more!  I've never really agreed with the February school break because it comes so quickly after my kid's 2-week holiday vacation, and with all the snow days we've had this winter, they've barely had any real traction to their school schedule since 2014 arrived.

However, since the state of RI hasn't taken my suggestion of combining the February and April school vacations to one week in March instead, it is indeed a week my kids have been home therefore challenging me (in a good way!) to spend more time with them, and less time on my writing.

You'd think I'd have this down by now, seeing that my oldest of 8 is  now 20, but no matter how many school and summer vacations come my way, I still haven't quite gotten my writing and kid groove to mesh in harmony.  

Yesterday we spent the day at The Providence Place Mall where we had lunch, shopped and then spent countless hours at a game place called Dave & Busters.  While we were having lunch one of my son's asked me if I had any writing deadlines during vacation week.  Astonished but thrilled that he took the time to ask, I opened the door for some Q & A about a writer's life.  The conversation only lasted about 5 minutes, but I took that as a good sign that they are starting to understand the different components of a writer's life as compared to some of their friends' parents that work a 9 - 5 job and can then come home and turn off their work world and tune into their family zone.

Since I do work a 9 - 5 job, but also work just as many hours (if not more) as a writer, I thought I'd share one of my favorite posts 12 Signs That You are a Writer at Heart (and 3 signs you are not) posted on Hongkiat.com        You can read the full article by clicking on this link, but today I'm going to share my favorite five!

A Childhood Passion

Did you enjoy writing when you were young? If you enjoyed writing when you were a child, it could be a sign that you were meant to write. Children know what they like and tend to know what they will do with their life even if they cannot express it.

Take the child who is always concerned with the well being of others becoming a doctor or nurse, or the child who loved to sing being active in the church choir all her life. There are numerous examples.

Reading Is (Forever) A Hobby

Do you absolutely love to read? Writers read. It is just a fact of life for us. That is not to say that everyone who reads can write, but the writer is drawn to books like ants to a picnic. If you love to write and were always an avid reader, well… need I say more?

No Glory? No Problem

Have you ever considered living like a pauper, and still want to write? Have you ever considered the prospect that if you committed yourself to writing full time, you might live in poverty and yet, you still want to write? If the writing is more appealing to you than living poorly is unappealing, you have the bug. Do you have the talent?

"Tell Us A Story"

Do children prefer you tell them a story of your own making rather than from a book? Kids can spot a writer a mile away. The very first time you tell a story, you may as well hang a storyteller sign that only children can read, around your neck.

What’s That Word?

When you come across a word you do not recognize, Do You NEED To find Its meaning? Writers are wordsmiths. We love to come across words we do not understand and more often than not, we can fathom the meaning by simply reading it in a sentence or formulating the point of the paragraph.

Still, we have to know for sure. We had several dictionaries and a thesaurus or two lying around the house. Does this sound like you?

How did you know that you were born to write?

You Know You're a Writer When.........

From Cheryl's Writing Crate

This week I spent a glorious afternoon catching up with two of my favorite "book people" in the world, Robin Kall Homonoff, aka radio personality and host of Reading with Robin, and her daughter, Emily, who is graduating from college this spring!  This dynamic mother and daughter duo have a constant flow of words running through their veins and straight to their hearts and minds at all times, and it's utterly contagious!

As a writer and a fellow "readahollic" I soaked in and cherished the two hours (which was not nearly enough time!) we spent chatting authors, styles, voices and quirks, and most enticing reads for the upcoming summer season, and it got me thinking about my own dreams of writing a novel someday (soon!) that will hopefully set my "reading friends" on fire because it will be so cleverly written they won't be able to put it down!  

Once I returned home and sat down in my cozy writing space at home I started thinking about all the authors that have touched my life in addition to the insightful columnists I follow on a regular basis and wondered if before they ever became published they asked themselves a question that many writers, new and experienced, have asked themselves, "How do I know when I'm a real writer?"

In my writer's library I came across a witty book on the topic called You Know You're a Writer When.....written by Adair Lara.   Here are a few of my favorite responses in this fun read.

In the introduction she shares:  A writer is someone who writes.  Writing is not a job, something you do.  It's something you are, something you can't not be.  Being a writer is not a matter of being published, it's about being so bewitched by language that writing seems real, and life by comparison feels like a dream.

You Know You're a Writer When..........

• You've switched to stretchier pants and looser sweaters to hide the effects of hours at the keyboard.

• You hide your writing journal on your lap at your kid's soccer game and rely on the other moms to give you the stats at the end of the game, especially if your own kid makes some great plays.

• You catch yourself patting your laptop with affection when you close it down.

• A new ream of blank paper can bring on an anxiety attack.

• At parties, you check out the bookshelves the way other people snoop through medicine cabinets.

• Not writing makes you depressed!

Just for the record, I have been calling myself a writer ever since my first essay was published in The Providence Journal 12 years ago and I've never looked back.    How about you?  When did you decide you were a writer?