Rebecca Graf's Blog - Posts Tagged "reading"

Want to know how to be a good writer? Be a good reader. When you read, you are taking in so much that you don't even realize. You're actually studying other authors.

As you read, you know when your heart starts racing. What did the author do to make you do that? Was it a turn of a phrase or the build up? Take that and put it into your own work. (not the scene but the method) Do you like how an author develops a character? How did they do it?

The more you read, the more you learn. Then when you write apply what you learned. Remember how a scene worked in one book and see if you can do the same thing with your own unique scene. It can be so much fun.

Want to be a good writer? Keep reading!

I'm so excited to get back to reading again. I was so long without reading for pleasure. All I did was read for school. Though I learned a lot, something is missing when you can't get a good book and curl up to lose yourself in the pages.

I'm back to reading a book a day. I love it. Okay, maybe not always a book a day, but pretty darn close. I'm gobbling them up again. I love it. I'll be able to continue doing this until September when I begin taking 2 classes again and then add a third on halfway through in October. Then I'm studying all the time until next spring.

This is also the time to get my writing done. I'm writing more and loving. I'll be giving my editor a lot of work :)

I had never really thought about it until I was reading about how to improve my writing. If you don't read, why would you write?

As I read, I find myself studying how various authors wrote certain scenes. I need improvement in describing dialogue. So, I pay special attention to that when reading. I've read how descriptive authors are and found such a wide range that I don't know if there really a best way to do that.

The more I read, the more I learn. I'm also reading books where I can notice much easier if a scene or a character is just not explored enough. I can now see where other books lack from a reader's standpoint. What purpose does that serve me? I can write with that in mind since my reader has to understand my work and connect to the characters. If I find something dissatisfying, I'm learning what not to do.

How do you learn to write better? Read better writers to learn what to do. Read worse writers to learn what not to do. It's all about learning.

Sometimes you just need to lose yourself in a book.

Okay, enough said. That's all. :)

It really could be. If you're on Goodreads, then you love to read. You know what it's like to lose yourself in a book.

Last night I was down in the dumps. Why? For a variety of reasons. The big thing was my self doubt as an author. First of all, you have to understand that I know I'm not going to win a Pulitzer Prize or anything. I know my writing needs work. I don't think it's terrible either. But last night I felt like a failure.

I had read some really good books and mentally kept comparing my writing to theirs. I came up so short. It doesn't help that all my writing is in editing mode. This can be frustrating because I want to see an end result but I look at the editing and I realize how far away the end really is.

We seek perfection. We can't achieve perfection. We have to achieve what the book says is the end. That is so hard. When is the end? When do we say, "Enough editing. This is the final copy."

Haven't found that spot yet. Still looking.

I have to admit that the kindle has me reading more than ever. I didn't think it was possible. But it's true.

Now, I still prefer my hardcopy books, but.....I can take so many more with me on my kindle. I'm now carrying a few thousand books with me everywhere I go. That is a reader's dream!!!!!

I have 4 books on my kindle that are currently being read. With the tap of a finger I can move from one to another depending on my mood.I have so many choices.

I usually had 2-3 books going on at one time, now I'm doubling that. I take my kindle everywhere. Trust me, everywhere! I never leave home without it. Why? Because it never fails that I'll be stuck somewhere having nothing to do. With my kindle, I can scan a few thousand books and choose whatever I want. I can choose an old classic, a romance, a mystery, or something scary. I love it!

Like I needed anything else to encourage me to read more! Geez! :)

You don't have to have won the Noble Prize to celebrate. You have to learn to celebrate the little things because they are building blogs for the monumental things.

For example, I just finished one semester of school. That means I have a week and a half with no classes whatsoever. That also means more writing, reading, and editing. To many that might sound like torture, but to me that is heaven.

I also have to celebrate finishing the first draft of Deadly Connections as well as starting a new writing projects (I know!) with my friend, Beth. We are already over 15k in words and we started less than a week ago, I think. Wow! This is so much fun.

I have to celebrate having the chance at achieving a dream. I have to celebrate a husband who loves me. I just have to celebrate.

What are you celebrating today?

Sometimes a writer needs a little feedback. She might think the story is going long pretty well. What she might not see is a major plot error. Three hundred pages later, it comes out. Now the author is discouraged, depressed, and wanting it to throw it all away. She has a really good story and shouldn't toss it. If she had someone reading alone as she wrote, maybe she would have caught the issue early.

Many writers struggle with that need. Too many people don't want to read a story as it progresses or take the time to help an author out. They want to just read a completed book. Oh, the plight of an author.

Help an author out. If one needs feedback on a WIP, volunteer. Be a part of something creative. Check out Wattpad where writers are posting WIPs and asking for feedback. Check out my work here - https://www.wattpad.com/user/RLGraf. Explore other authors by genre. Have fun helping an author while indulging in your passion of reading.

In the last few years, my husband and I have begun to travel a bit. We finally can afford it, and the kids are making lives of their own. They are spreading their wings in different areas of the country. That has opened the door for us to go to new places: Charleston, Newport, Houston, and Sedona. There is a reader's opportunity here that I have missed over the years. Never again.

After our visit to Charleston, SC., I read a book set there. I recognized some of the place names. I wish I had read the book before I had gone to Charleston. That got me to thinking. Why not read books that I'm plannign on traveling to? It will give me ideas of the place and give me a connection to it. Who knows! I might discover new places to visit through the books.

These books can be fiction or non-fiction. It really doesn't matter. Before we went out to Las Vegas and Sedona, I got books on the hsitory of the areas. I learned so much and didn't quite feel so lost.

Next year, we are heading to Newport, RI. I've already got a list of books set in the area to purchase a few months before we go. There is a couple of biographies and a few murder mysteries as well as one romance.

Have you thought of reading books set in where you will visit? You might discover new historical sites or even restuarants to visit. Yes, some fiction books have fictional locations, but can still be fun to read.

What places would you be reading about?

If you are an avid reader, you will read anywhere you are. This is not an exaggeration. It doesn't matter where you are, you will read if you can.

You are waiting in line at the coffee shop. How can I tell you are a reader? You have a book or your electronic reading device out and are glued to it. You'll read no matter where you are. That includes the bathroom.

I'll readily admit that I read in the bathroom no matter where that facility might be. Even at work, my phone goes with me where I can read my ebooks. While using the facilities, I can get at least one more page read.

Before you know it, you've finished the book.

Others are shocked when I admit to reading in the bathroom at work. Why? What's wrong with that? Nothing, I say!

What do you do in the bathroom? There is the obvious we won't go into detail about. I believe in being frank, but that goes too far. I'm talking about what else you do.

You sit and stare at the back of the stall door. You might start to fold toilet paper to use. You might even chat up the person in the next stall who rushes out to escape the weirdo who wants to chat while they.... you know.

Pull out your smartphone and open up your ereading app. Go about your other business and knock off a few pages. Seriously, you can read so many more books if you read in the bathroom every chance you get.

What are you reading in the bathroom?

Family stories can be so inspiring when it comes to writing. I have used stories from my family for scenes in many of my novels and in most of my short stories. An example is one called Henrietta. (https://writerrebeccagraf.com/writing...)

This was a short story based on something that happened long before I was born. My mother told me that my brother was frantically searching the house for something but wouldn't tell her what. Finally, she got it out of him that he had snuck in a mouse from school and it was missing. Oh, and the mouse was pregnant.

My mother hated animals in the house. Every now and then, she allowed sick ones in but that was all. Nothing more. But a mouse????

That was terrifying to my mother. Rodents were not meant to be pets in her eyes. So to know that there was a pregnant white mouse in her house was horrifying to her. My brother laughed when the story was told. My mother pretended to be still mad all those decades later.

As I was raised without my siblings around and considered my life pretty boring, I loved to hear the stories of when my siblings were young. To me, it was fun. To my mother, not so much. So I wrote a short story on it.

Now that I have raised my children, I can understand the horror my mother felt and put it in the story. But I also feel the excitement of the child at having snuck the mouse in.

I hope you get a chance to read my short story, and I hope you enjoy it.