Best of the Week, Jan 13 to 18

5 Tips for Developing Good Reading Habits

. . . 1. Pace yourself. Each book has its own process of discovery and interior animation.

Nevil Shute's Little-known Classic: A Town Like Alice
Shute possesses a steady narrative voice and drives the plot relentlessly forward, though his plots are often complicated. His magic makes them plausible and wrenching.

Happy Birthday, MLK, Jr. ~ An Interview with Ed Gilbreath

“We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality... Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.” 

5 Tips for Developing Good Reading Habits

It is wondrous to enjoy the life-giving and grounding habit of becoming a reader. It is an excellent adventure! Here are some helpful tips:

1. Pace yourself. Each book has its own process of discovery and interior animation.

2. Overthrow distractions. There will always be something else you can do. But, upon my word, remember: reading is doing something. It is feeding the mind and expanding soul at the same time.

3. Give yourself permission to find which genre animates you, then delve into it. Also, simply because a friend says a book was "the best book I've read" and has lent it to you does not mean it will be the best you have ever read. You are not obliged to like what other people like.  In any case, please remember to return the loaned book!

4. Alternate reading between new offerings and proven classics. Time is the true test of all good writing.

5. Get a good chair or a comfy couch with a solid end table (where you will stack your books) and good lighting. This is your happy place.

Slow down.  Pick up a good book.

5 Reasons Writers Should Read

1) If you are reading then you are not Tweeting or lurking on Facebook.

2) Writers easily become self-referring; that is, we can begin to think of our writing as the standard-bearer of good writing. Reading others' works reminds us that our work not only is not the standard but also that this writer probably has sold more books than we have or ever will.

3) It slows you down because reading good writing often takes time to read. Many times you must penetrate several chapters before the momentum of the book pulls you into it. This develops patience, persistence, and (if you're open to it) an ability to authentically relish the power of simple words rightly placed and the pace of a good story. It will serve well the tenacity it takes to stay with a writing project.

4) You begin to acquire a sense about what makes a book good and what pulls it down. These instincts then arise when you are writing your own narrative.

http://eccoquapress.blogspot.com

5) You begin to hear the writers "narrative voice," which is the backbone of every good book. Hearing another writer's narrative voice enables you to scrutinize your own. Without a clear narrative voice, your book-in-process will sink to the bottom of a lonely sea.

Special Tip: Regularly divide your reading between contemporary writers and classics. Time is the true test of a good book. If a book passes the test of time then it was written by someone whose writing you should emulate, or least, appreciate.