To Write … Read

I mentioned that I’ve been reading Stephen King’s On Writing, and he – like all good writers – says that in order to write well – you must read extensively. I think of Jane Austen, and Pride & Prejudice, and the scene when Miss Bingley has listed out all the necessary skills and talents to be ‘truly accomplished’, Mr. Darcy adds ‘extensive reading’ to the list.

So on Saturday I took all my grocery money (just kidding) and went to the used bookstore and spent an hour in heaven pulling book after book off the shelves to add to the pile growing in my arms. At one point the young woman working the register came over to ask if I wanted her to take the books over the counter for me. Oh no – I needed them all right there to create the pattern that was emerging of favorite authors from the past to keep me company.

Laurie King, John Irving, Frank Herbert, Madeleine L’Engle, Marge Piercy, Dashell Hammet, Ernest Hemmingway, Nadine Gordimer, Henry James, Alice Walker, Margaret Atwood, and Virginia Woolf.

Ah – I am surrounded by a wealth of words poured out for my enjoyment. On Saturday I allowed the entire afternoon and evening to sit and read and read and read – and then I took a long evening stroll at sunset to contemplate the words that swam inside me.

Today, words pour forth from my own fingertips – writing for others and yet still for my own enjoyment. I pause, take a few moments of time to share this little piece of heaven with you.