As I was sitting in my office at lunch the other day a thought crossed my mind. Reading is the most affordable entertainment that you can give to yourself. It also opens your mind and allows you to sink into the world of the writer. I read across many genres and enjoy being lifted into new worlds that our mind imagens. It is the job of the writer to not only tell a story that you can sink into but to paint the scenes in our minds and to pull us into the story. As you can find on this site I have written a few short stories as well as one novel and I enjoyed the way I had to create the scenes so that the reader is pulled into the world I saw when I wrote the book.
Here is an example of scene building. In the first act, I will show you what a book would be like with no scene building then I will follow it up with a scene that your mind will see.
Act 1: The little boy was carrying a ball and thinking about finding some friends to play with. (No Scene building)
Act 1: Sammy was carrying a ball down a street and noticed a basketball hoop hanging from the side of an old run-down building. He thought to himself that he needed to run three houses down the block to the house with the chain-link fence and get two of his friends Billy and Jimmy to come down and play a little basketball. (With Scene building)
Sometimes people say writers build to much fluff into their stories. That is why some books have 600 pages and some others have 300. But it is the fluff that will pull you into the story and allow you to understand a character better. This is the reason, Stephen King’s books are so long. He has a remarkable way of pulling you into the story and keeps you there throughout the entire book no matter how long it is.
And these days if you have an e-reader you can find so many great FREE books which makes the reading endless. I would recommend signing up for a free account on Book Blurp. I get FREE book offers every day. I would also suggest that you read works from authors you have never heard about you will be surprised how it will open your world.
Reading is a great way to pass the time and keep your mind fresh and active. As you can see from the home page here I do set up a reading challenge using Good Reads every year. My reason for doing this is not so much to speed my way to my goal but to keep me reading in more of a constant pace. Think of reading as a movie that was never and most likely will never be made from the book you are reading. It is just great to have some alone time and wrap yourself into a book. Written words can bring to life a part of media that you can explore on your own. What I like the most is that I never have to fast forward over a commercial.
Start your kids off reading at an early age. Even when they are too young to read on their own read to them and show them pictures in the book. Another good step to get your children to read it to have them see you reading. Hand your child a book when you sit in your favorite reading chair and cut of some time of the day that you and your child read.
Read what you like. I normally lean towards crime novels or horror if I can find a good one that is. I have also found a couple good title of science fiction that I have not tried yet but feel it will expend my reading and make me think a little more about what might be out there.
I hear too often that someone does not have time to read. If you have time to watch series after series on TV or you binge watch Net Flix then you have time to read a good book or two. I hope this post inspires you to find a good book open it up and read. Check out My Books at the top of this page and read the story of Random Numbers.
I have a lot of people who because I read a lot ask me what is my choice when it comes to Ebook or Paper? Well, my answer normally is whatever I can get my hands on. To be honest ever since I got my first Kindle about five years ago I have mostly read using the device. One pro I have with the Kindle or any Ebook reader is that I can always have my next read right in my hands. I keep a folder on the Kindle called Current. I use this folder to keep my next five or six books lined up and ready to go. There are times I grab another title and read it before going back to my folder. One downside with the Kindle or EReader is that at times you might want to read and if it is dead you have to wait for it to charge. This is why I have two, ever serious reader should have two or more devices to read on. And with Amazon, the devices will sync to the last page read on any device.
So why in the picture above is there a paper book? Glad you asked. Revert back and you will see I said whatever you can get your hands on. I started reading The Mortality Doctrine and finished the last book. I checked Amazon and found the price to be higher than what I wanted to pay. So I did as many readers will do and turned to the library. I was told they have the hardcover and asked if I wanted to borrow it? I said, of course, it saves me money and I get to read the next book. What I enjoy about paper books is first it never needs to be charged. And second I enjoy placing the bookmark into the book and seeing how far you have left. I know the Kindle tells you where you are at but its just something I have always enjoyed.
I have many people tell me they don’t like a Kindle because it has no smell. What? Yes, books have that certain smell to them and the feel of the pages. But have you ever picked up a paper book and thought it was too large for you to ever finish? Well with a Kindle every book is the same size. Not total page counts but just the feel of the Kindle never gets bigger. It’s really all in the mind folks. Reading is something you do mostly for yourself. When we buy a larger story for the same price of a smaller one we are just getting more for our money. Don’t ever allow size to be a factor for not reading something. I would have never read many of Steven King’s books because they can get awful wordy.
In the end, read whatever you can get your hands on. Reading has given me many hours of alone time spent in so many places and allows me to escape from many places I may never visit. I also feel that reading will keep your mind firing on all neurons. And my best thought is there is never any commercials that I have to fast forward over.
My proofs are in from the publisher. I have found a few issues that I have to correct. It is a great feeling having this in my hands after working on it for a year. It proves to me that writing does take time. You start with free writing, where you get your thoughts onto the page. Then there is the clean up. Then you have to have a few reads to dig into the details.
Once I get my final touches on the book and have a few test readers read the book I will be able to have a release date. But for now I am enjoying sharing the pics of my first run copies of the book.
Little about the story. This is a look into what can happen when a really good family meets evil. I started this story just like anyone else does with an idea. I was walking in the mall one day watching as people walked by. I turned to my wife and asked her what she thought of an idea for a book? She turned to me and said that it sounded like a really good idea for the book. So I went home that evening and began writing Random Numbers.
I am not sure yet how to dig up test readers? Keep watching this blog also please drop me a comment if you would like to be considered.
Writing fiction is something I have always wanted to do. Now having my first book in the publishing stage I have began pounding away and my new short story. I would love to write a full novel but it seems to me that I tend to rush my stories and push them to the end to quick.
I don’t really enjoy writing filler as much as I enjoy telling the story. I enjoy writing books more as short stories. These stories are focused on ten to twelve chapters. I hope to capture the many people in life that I hear from that always have these statements. I have no time to read or books take to long to get through.
I will be posting soon my first published book in the hopes that you will pick up a copy.
It is funny that I am writing this new book and some how started in the middle of it; somewhere around chapter 3 – 4 maybe? I was working on chapter one last night and when I came down stairs for our TV time I told my wife I was writing chapter one, she responded with I thought you were almost done? And I thought I was until I noticed I never brought the reader into the story.
Now it is once again moving along. I have each of the characters created and now you know a little of their back stories of who they are. I really didn’t want to get to deep with their lives because I don’t want to bore the reader with useless pages.
Just an update, I am sure after I get it more completed I might have a little sample on this site to share with you?
As I said in the last post everyone has a story in them somewhere. We all come from some lace and we all have had some sort of lives little straggles. It seems now that I am learning more about creative writing I see a new story everywhere I go. As I live life now I am opening my mind up to exploring different ideas with each new place we go. Even some of the old places. I thought of a story just the other day while at the mall. Fiction is just that fiction, not true, made up. But remember all of it does not have to be made up. We can use places we visit and things we know to write now stories. In reading Stephen King’s book on writing I found a new way to look around me and I also found that I can write about what I know without writing manuals.
I am working now on a book or maybe a short story is really depends on how it unfolds. I am also attending creative writing classes to attempt to learn even more about the craft of writing. It is of course just as much of a craft as working with wood or welding metal. There is an art to writing and there are rules that are meant to be broken.
The main thing to remember if you are entering into this craft called writing is this; do it for you for the love of writing and telling a story. If you get wrapped up in the thoughts of making money you would be better off learning the craft of wood working or maybe welding?
A final note is to write and write often hence this blog. I try to also work on my book at least every evening writing as much as a scene a evening. If I don’t I think I would loose track of my story all together. Last I downloaded a app for my cell phone that allows my to type thoughts for future stories when ever I am out and about. This will always give me a place or a topic for my next story.
Just completed reading my first book on my new NOOK! This is a great device for reading books in either pdf or epub formats. It is also relaxing not to have to move you book light after every few pages. One last thought is that you will never get a paper cut while reading on the NOOK!
