I’ve spoken to many authors who are trying desperately to write more books faster. I understand the giddy and nervous impulse. When we don’t publish, we can easily get forgotten. It often takes more frequent publication, more followers, more email signups, promotions, sales, pre-orders and/or constant drip advertising to keep sales inertia going. We all fear becoming forgotten. We don’t want our income to slide away so we focus on production instead of consumption. More red arrows than green in your Amazon dashboard? Panic. Spreadsheets showing a downward trend? Panic and poop out another book in your series, quick!
But we need to feed our imaginations, as well.
We need to read more books. You can feed your mind in many ways. One of those ways is reading widely, inside and outside your genre. A good writer is a good reader first.
This is not a new thought. I’m going to acknowledge up front that I’m stealing this idea from an amazing writer, Zoe York. One day last year, Zoe mentioned how lucky she felt to have writing and reading as her job. That offhand remark stuck with me. Zoe’s right. Reading is part of our job. Whether you see other authors as your competitors or comrades, we need to read more than our own manuscripts.
Confession Time
I love reading but I, too, feel the temptation to write more than I read. This is ultimately a time management problem. I have to make time to read, write, eat, exercise, sleep and do all the million other things required of adults. But people do manage these things. If they can, so can I.
Solution: Time
I committed myself again to reading more and I am doing so. Low priorities are off my list. High priorities get done. No one will give you this time. You have to make time or take it. Please do so. Reading feeds my fiction. Good books inspire me to write better. Bad books can illustrate what to avoid. Non-fiction can provide the factual context that makes fiction more believable and powerful.
Reading is the love that led you to write. Keep that love going. Tend those fires. Rekindle your love. Read.
~ Robert Chazz Chute is the suspense writer who wrote “have eye sex with a book,” in the concluding paragraph of this article. He had the good sense to delete that nonsense. Sadly, He wasn’t mature enough to hold it back from this signature line. If you’re already a fan, you can join his new fan club on Facebook here.
If you aren’t a fan yet, head over to AllThatChazz.com to explore what killer thrillers and apocalyptic fiction he has to offer.
Filed under: publishing
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100%. I’m in a winter period myself and whenever I feel a bit restless about it, I remind myself it’s better not to rush, and in fact, take some time off to replenish. So….
Mohana, are you still in Qatar? I’m in a deep freeze up here in the North Beyond the Wall with the Wildlings so it’s hard to imagine you in any kind of “winter period.” I’m assuming your remark is entirely metaphorical but it makes me smile to think of you in a parka.