Chapter 8

Read, Read, Read, and Read Some More

My granddaughter is growing up far away from me in Texas, but when I see her carrying her book with her wherever she goes, and how engrossed she gets in a story, I realize that people like my granddaughter and myself are drawn naturally to books. A reader is not something we decided to be. If I go on a trip, I know I can’t leave home without packing several books to read when I get to where I’m going. Sometimes I’ve run out of books when I’m away, and I get really panicky until I can get to a bookstore to buy another one. Reading has become as necessary to me as breathing. I encourage you to develop the same need for books that I have; as this need will inform your writing as it has informed so much of mine.

That doesn’t mean that you can’t learn to be a reader, to find in books a basic comfort for the pain and sorrow in your life, to find in them a respite from the busy, mindless movement of modern life. I know firsthand that even someone who does not naturally gravitate toward books can learn to love them. As a young mother, I was anxious that my daughter did not seem interested in reading. I read to her, of course, since I believe that it’s essential for parents to read to their children. There’s something so incredibly wonderful about holding a child in your arms and reading. Such an early introduction to books is the first step to creating future readers. I tried to teach my daughter to read on her own as well, but she was a very active child who really didn’t like to sit still long enough to read. I knew that I just had to find the right book to capture her attention. It took some trial and error to find the book that would really speak to her. For my daughter, the book was Judy Blume’s Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. She read it quickly and started asking for more. Now she, too, carries books with her wherever she goes.

Try to find the book that speaks to you. If you are not a person who has ever enjoyed reading, you can start with listening to Selected Shorts on Public Radio or to novels or non-fiction books on tape or CD. Soon, you will find yourself wanting to read the books for yourself. Quickly, you will see that your own writing is deepened and is strengthened by this reading.

There’s one unbreakable law for every writer: If you want to write, you have to read. I’m not referring to reading one book a year, but rather to reading as many books as possible in any given year, and to reading at least a few pages every day. You need to read in order to help you explore your creative self. It doesn’t matter so much what you read, just that you’re driven to read, that reading should become as necessary to you as drinking water or eating.

I don’t think you can write in a vacuum. You need to fill up your interior life with other writers’ words and images, to go to museums, to drink in visual art and theater and music, because all of these things give your own work extra meaning. They are an unconscious way of teaching you how to write and how to open yourself to the world of words and language. All the characters and situations and feelings and thoughts in other people’s books will become a part of your subconscious mind. They will always be a part of you, and you then can draw on the feelings and thoughts they elicit in you when you are writing. A weightlifter needs protein and carbs in large amounts to keep on lifting weights. The writer needs other people’s words to keep going, to get the burn.

Read. Get the Burn. Be Inspired.