Monday, June 15, 2015

How Writing Helped Me Overcome My Addiction

I find it interesting that as I become more and more immersed in the world of writing books, or rather the process of turning my stories into what I hope will become books, my experience as a reader has changed. It has totally ruined me as a reader!  Or maybe it's improved me as a reader.  I guess it depends on your perspective.   I can no longer sit down and just loose myself in a good book.  I am looking at the art on the cover.  If it's a picture book, I am analyzing the style of the illustrator.  I am paying attention to who the author is, what their background is, what, if any, books they have previously written.  Who the publisher is.  How many pages the book contains.  And that is all before I even start to read it.

Confession: If you had asked me last year who wrote a particular book, you probably would have had to wait while I looked it up in my kindle library. 

Now when I read, I am looking at the way the author develops the character. How soon they introduced conflict. What style and tense they are writing in. Is the first line a great one?  Do they start with a prologue or just jump right into the story? How much dialogue is there? And on and on and on.  

Of course this new book reality does come with a few benefits. There is the benefit of refining my craft.  Studying the work of those who have already accomplished such an amazing goal. It's an obvious one but it can't be over looked because by and large it is the most useful as well as the most used. Then there is the benefit of addiction recovery.  Not quite as obvious.  My husband has told me on more than one occasion that I have a problem.  I thought he was crazy the first time he said it. They say denial is a real problem in addiction cases.  The more he pointed it out though, the more I realized he might be right.  Reading a good book? Forget the laundry.  Got to finish just one more chapter, or two, or three, or ten.  Having a hard time getting up with the kids in the morning? Maybe I shouldn't have stayed up with that book until 3:00 AM. Running out of space on the bookshelves? Kindle's got me covered, my electronic bookshelf doesn't have that problem.  While I did put some rules in place to help me manage my book addiction, I find that they aren't necessary anymore.  I can't devour a book in a day while critically analyzing everything in it. I hope to one day find a happy balance. Maybe after I add my name to the lucky few.  In the mean time I will sacrifice my all encompassing enjoyment of reading.  Settling instead for the lesser, mere enjoyment of reading while simultaneously paying my dues in the homework department.  


M.

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