Read to Write

I don’t know about the rest of you but I spend entirely too much time in my own head.

Part of it is being a writer.

I haven’t really found (nor do I really want to find) a way of turning off whatever it is in my brain that lets me write stories but this means that I am always concocting, always examining different scenarios, always wondering what if?

I feel like a human Schrodinger’s cat paradox. All possibilities exist in my brain until the box is opened.
Don’t open the box!

Sorry, got sidelined there, but one of the ways I have been able to quieten the voices in my head is to read. This way I get to spend time in someone else’ head for a change.
And I find that relaxing and exciting and inspiring all at the same time. And sometimes seriously daunting.
For example I just finished Philip Reeve’s excellent futuristic, steampunkish adventure FEVER CRUMB. I haven’t been that transported since I read Harry Potter or The Golden Compass for the first time. The world was so fully-imagined, characters superbly drawn, the whole thrillingly plotted…

Part of me can’t help but be awed and also a teeny weeny bit jealous when I read work by masterful writers but it also inspires me to work harder at my own writing.

I come back refreshed and determined and more in love with the written word than ever.
Next up: Libba Bray’s BEAUTY QUEENS and Melina Marchetta’s THE PIPER’S SON.