 For Authors: December 20, 2023 Issue [#12328] |
This week: The Task of Reading Edited by: Dawn Embers  
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For Authors Newsletter by Dawn
Rambling from a writer who gets to read books due to a long commute and library app on her phone. It is easy to say the importance of reading but can be a challenge when trying to decide between the task to write or read. |
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Writers should be readers.
That is a common piece of advice but with other things going on in our lives, at times it can be hard to carve out the time needed to write 250 words, let alone to give to another author who had already finished something. Jobs and other tasks get in the way along with family obligations. It is easy to put writing or reading to the back burner but it's still one of those things that we should consider if we aren't already making it a good habit to follow. And much like writing, there are some options when it comes to getting a reading fix handled.
Good ol' paperback and hardback books at still nice to have around. I don't know what you prefer but I like having a paperback book in hand. Not the easiest things to deal with come moving time since boxes of books tend to be heavy but still very worth it in my opinion. It helps to divide the books up with other items so you don't just get a box full of books because that can be hard to carry. I still think they are worth the heavy lifting and space but know others aren't as big of fans when it comes to the physical copies. There are some challenges between size, space, cost and such with these books but that is okay.
Audiobooks are another good option. Instead of listening to television for background noise or music during different tasks, you could be reading a book. If you have a long commute, that is a good time in particular. Since I sometimes drive 45 minutes up to 2 hours for some of the clients my job has me work with at different times, considering the traffic of Southern California around LA, the audio ones have been very helpful. Doing cleaning or household chores is also a good time to listen to a book, since it's a task that may only need a certain level of concentration, so you could spare some of the attention to a story instead. One could even listen while writing, though that does seem difficult. I know some listen to music while writing stories but it is definitely different listening to any type of story while also working on your own.
Digital books are also available through a few different e-readers and they help with the space/weight issue. If you have an e-reader, then you can have many different books on the one tablet type of device, which is easier to carry around compared to trying to put 10 books in a purse or bag. You can even do some reading on your phone, even if the pages are smaller so it makes it seem like the book is longer.
The cost of books can be a problem for some of us when it comes to getting books we want or checking out ones we only know about through references from friends or Facebook reading groups. However, the library helps with that set back. If you haven't been in a while, I suggest checking out the library. They may not have the widest selection, depending on where you live, or be the most up to date, but it's a great place to check out different books. And if they don't have one in particular, you can always make a request. May take a little time, but many libraries have the option to request authors and books to be added to their catalogue of titles.
Finally, there is the library app: Libby. This can be downloaded to a phone or any device that allows the downloading of apps. It is a digital library. Though you still need a library card to use on it. But once you have it on your phone, you can look up the local or a library close enough and put that as the main one. From there, digital and audiobooks are available, along with magazines. I don't know how long magazine access is, since most libraries have shorter times on those, but for the books, I get to check those out for 21 days. Since I use the app, I tend to have up to 9 different books (a couple digital and the rest audio) at any given time. It has helped me to read over 175 books in less than 6 months. Granted they were short books due to the genre but still, not bad since I also wrote 50k in November on my own story. The app is very helpful in getting access to different books and trying them out without having to make a purchase.
Reading is one of those common pieces of advice that people give when it comes to the topic of writing. The question that comes next is: what are you reading?
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What book are you reading now or which one do you want to read next?
I haven't written for this newsletter in a long while but one of the last newsletters involved working with
Comment by Osirantinous 
Good newsletter, Dawn. I don't describe my characters a massive amount either so for some of them I would be open to 'change' - but not the sex, and not the name, and not the love interest. And if there was a sex scene then it needs to be how it was written; don't change it! It was written that way for a reason and changing it, changes the characters. I'd love any of my stuff made into a movie, but I'd rather it be like the netflix adaptations because they're decent adaptations. Movies these days tend to be 'loosely' based on a book and most people who are going to see the movie are readers of the book. What's the point in just annoying your audience???
- I know what you mean about the book adaptations. I've only found a few that were as good as the book or one that was slightly better. Most of the time it is hard to put that much into a single movie, but the choices they make and some of the major changes just come off wrong. Like the Flowers in the Attic movie... don't watch that. However, Stardust (based off the Neil Gaiman book), that is a good watch.
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