Reading Is Fundamental

Ask any writer how to become a better writer and they will most certainly tell you to read. Steven King once boiled down his most excellent book On Writing into six words. Read a lot. Write a lot. That's it. There are no secrets to great writing, but you must read everything. For example, while I was listening to Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen on my audible.com account, I was reading The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum, Talk about a complete messing of the mind. But, it's that type of reading that prevents you from getting bogged down into one particular genre and allows your writing style to find itself and flourish.

Here are some ways I have found to sneak in reading whenever possible. Some of these options cost $$$, but most are free.

1. Go to www.audible.com and sign up for an account. If you have a long commute to work (like me) this is one of the best ways to get some reading done on the fly. Just make sure you pump the sound through your Bluetooth or Aux jack. Don't wear headphones in your car like a complete tool.

2. Kindle allows you to share books between devices. So, if you are reading on your Kindle and have the Amazon Kindle app loaded onto your smartphone, you can pick up where you left off.

3. Nook. I also have a Nook Simple Touch, but truthfully, I don't use it too much. Don't get me wrong, it's a great device and you can actually let other Nook users borrow your downloaded titles.

4. Good old fashioned paper. I love, love, love hard cover books. I once drove five hours each way to pick up a Stephen King collection in Maine. The coolest thing about the visit; I got to see where the film crew stayed while filming Graveyard Shift. The owner of the house even threw in an original screenplay of Graveyard Shift that was left behind after the crew finished. Talk about cool.

5. The Public Library. Just make sure you put your books in the microwave for 20 seconds when you get home. There has been an epidemic of bedbugs lately as they like to live in the bindings of books. Look it up on the Internet if you don't believe me. After all, everything on the Internet is true. Right?

So, there you have it. Read a lot. Write a lot. No excuses.