As I've been laying around sick these last few days, unable to stare at my computer screen for more than a few minutes thanks to the sinus pressure, it finally hit me. I haven't been reading!
I've been spending so much time revising and thinking about revising and nitpicking sentences that I haven't read just for fun. And I need it. That's when I feel the most inspired, when I'm surrounded by exciting, interesting, absorbing stories. So yesterday, when actual reading was an impossibility, I started listening to an audiobook, and already I feel revived.
(Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare, read by Jennifer Ehle who is awesome at the multitude of voices and British accents in the book.)
So what about you? Do you read when you write? I can't read fiction that is similar in topic to what I'm writing but I like to read things that are similar in tone.
4 comments:
I'm glad you're feeling better. :)
I cannot read anything while I'm writing first drafts or I am completely rewriting something. I can read while I'm in the editing process. I have no explanation.
I went through the same thing recently. I just hit a wall in my revisions. I didn't have the epiphany you did but realized it after picking up a book to read in my off time. It definitely sparked my creativity again! My reading dry spell turned into five books off my TBR pile in a couple weeks and more work done on revisions!
I'm finding that while I'm in the actual writing and heavy rewriting phases, the creating parts, I can't read. One, I don't have time or desire because I'm so involved. And two, I'm loving my world so much, that I just can't get into anyone else's. While editing and in between projects, though, I suck up the reading and yes, often for inspiration. The only problem is then I'm enjoying all these other authors' worlds so much, I have a hard time getting back into my own.
I hope you're enjoying Clockwork Angel. It's next on my TBR list - after I finish this first draft. Get to feeling better soon!!!
I read whether I'm writing or not--first draft or revisions. And I must read something in my category. I don't worry about "borrowing" anything either. It just helps me stay in my zone. :-D
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