"There is creative reading as well as creative writing."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
This week I've been on a reading binge. Five days, five fabulous novels:
Gary Paulsen's HATCHETT
Stasia Kehoe's AUDITION
Anna Sheehan's A LONG, LONG SLEEP
Jessica Martinez' VIRTUOSITY
Christine Fletcher's TEN CENTS A DANCE
Why am I reading so much? Because my creative well needs replenishing. My writing feels empty and dry. For me, there is no better cure.
How do you fill your creative well? And if you've read any outstanding novels lately, please share!
I agree. Been reading story collections to try and get inspiration for my own. Danielle Evans' "Before you suffocate your own fool self" is good. Also recommend Annie Proulx's "Wyoming Stories." Zadie Smith's "On Beauty" and Eugenides' "Middlesex" are two of my favorites that just floor me whenever I read them. In a good way.
ReplyDeleteAnd in the YA-verse recs are Sarah Zarr's "Once Was Lost" and ANYTHING by Laini Taylor. Love her. Also a fan of Amy Garvey's "Cold Kiss" if you haven't had a chance. Okay, seriously, I'm done.
ReplyDeleteOhhhh! Nothing fills my creative ink well like reading. Nothing.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if how much MG reading you do, but PETER NIMBLE AND HIS FANTASTIC EYES is unique, funny, serious, and adventurous all at once.
Jennifer--thanks for the recs. I'm eagerly awaiting Sara Zarr's latest, HOW TO SAVE A LIFE.
ReplyDeleteBarbara-I'm always game for a great MG!
Totally agree about creative reading. When I'm feeling empty, I tend to reread certain books that have filled me up in the past. Maureen Johnson's books do that for me for some reason, particularly Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes. Also the book of novellas she wrote with John Green and Lauren Myracle, Let It Snow.
ReplyDeleteDawn-I loved the Suite Scarlett series. I'll have to check out LET IT SNOW.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read The Hatchet since I was a kid! Sounds like some good book choices. I recently finished The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern--LOVED IT!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely reading will help!! I hope get your creative tank filled to the brim. My favoritest novel this year is "Saving Cee Cee Honeycutt," by Beth Hoffman. Not one wasted word. Completely heartbreaking and delightful. POV is the 12-year-old main character. You'll love it.
ReplyDeleteCortney--Looks like THE NIGHT CIRCUS is wildly popular!
ReplyDeleteGirl Parker--I'll go check that out! Thanks.
I know just what you mean. While I let my WIP cool before revisions, I spent eight weeks absolutely devouring books. Among them: The God of Small Things, The Quickening, The Pull of Gravity, If I Stay, Where She Went, Stones for Ibarra. . .
ReplyDeleteinluv--I'm so glad to know I'm not the only one. . .
ReplyDelete