Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Water PItcher Analogy

A number of years ago I acquired a Victor Hugo biography at an antique store, and that night in the motel room started reading it. It wasn't that interesting and it rambled on until my head started to nod. Then suddenly I came upon something interesting. I perked up...he was talking about the creative energies of a writer and compared it to filling a water pitcher. He said something to the effect that when a writer writes it is like pouring the water out. That a writer needs to have the creative waters flowing and if the pitcher runs dry it is no longer possible to write effectively. He went on to say that in order to fill the pitcher back up a writer needs to read. That the writing process is a cycle of repetitively writing and reading. Now I can't really attest to the validity of what the great French writer is saying but like many things there is probably more than a grain of truth to it. I often read quotes from writers talking about the importance of reading, Stephen King being one of the more outspoken. At writing.com one of the benefits is the ability to read in your genre without creating a pile of references that could over a period of years fill a room. There is a full range of material readily at your finger tips and you not only get to see a quality range, you also get exposed to styles, vocabulary and facts in a relatively short order. It's a good way to fill the pitcher back up and a resource that is a great aid to an aspiring writer.