Reading More Widely

Day five of the blogging challenge and I'm still going strong. As I said in yesterday's blog, I haven't been feeling too well.  However, one thing which any writer can still do whilst ill is read. In order to be a writer you also need to be a reader. Now I read voraciously but mainly in the crime genre. It is often good for a writer, and in fact an individual, to expand their horizons in regards to reading choice. This allows the writer to view things from a different perspective and avoid becoming too narrow in their viewpoint. Their writing can be strengthened as they absorb the variety of ways in which writers express themselves.

Last week I was away from home and staying with friends. I was entertaining a two year old and he wanted me to read to him. He had a wide variety of books, but one which stuck with me was Ted's Birthday Bus. This was simply written but demonstrated beautifully how to build suspense and provide a surprise. My young friend loved this facet of it as well, resulting in my having to read it about fifteen times.

I appreciate that this may not be the best book to help me develop my writing skills. So I have bought the first book in Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series, and Archbishop by Michelle Guinness. Completely different from each other and also different from my usual choice of book. I am looking forward to reading them and will report back when I have done so.

There ends day five of the challenge. I will see you Bck here tomorrow for the next instalment in the series. Until then keep reading and writing.