Reading

~ In an effort to prevent this becoming the blog of ultimate whining (the read version of the bog of eternal stench), I've rehauled this post. ~

Recently a friend of mine made a little post on why one should read a lot as well as write. I decided I didn't want to churn up her comment section with my thoughts, so instead I'll place them here.

I don't read a lot these days. That's not because I don't want to or don't have time to, I do. The main reason (other than I now have the attention span of a gnat on crack) is actually the same reason I write; what I want, how I want it, isn't out there.

Now I've read great books and amazing stories, I've even read things I feel are perfect and that I would hold up as an example of what I want to write. And while those writings are vastly superior to mine, they're still not done exactly as I would do them. They may be awe-inspiring and speak to the bones of my soul, but what I want from a book isn't all I want to write. The message, the heroes, the romance, the darkness, may all be in there in a way I dearly love, but the way I will write those same things will be different.

So why is that a reason why I don't read? Bluntly put, I reached the point where I needed to put what I wanted to read, out there.

That isn't to say I feel I've read enough, as I'm not very well read at all. Fantasy was always my genre and rarely anything else though, so when I started writing what I wanted, I also stopped reading a lot of it. I should branch out and enjoy other book types, but somehow I just don't end up doing that. I start something and then it just doesn't grab me, and I'm in the middle of at least three books right now, and have been for over a year.

I think I would like to read a good book, whatever it's about. The problem is, I'm just too lazy to find one ;)