WRITING: And Reading

For a good part of my writing life (since about age 8 to now, but with sabbaticals of years in between) I have read even more voraciously and consistently. And sadly, for many years in my most creative and driven periods of writing, I purposely stopped reading. My reasoning behind this planned self-restriction was simple and based in integrity. I felt that I would be too influenced by what I had just read, too able to “lift” the ideas of other writers who had left their site bookmarked in my mind; their words having been filed away but accessible to that part of the brain that without conscious effort retrieves the information stored within. This would cause me to doubt my own writing as original and the devils seeded in my brain by nine years’ worth of black-habited nuns prohibited me from even thinking I could be thinking someone else’s thoughts without branding myself a thief.

But for all my honest efforts, I find that what I write is the sum total of all that I have read. My writing voice is no kin to my speaking voice in language style and use, but there is some family resemblance to Poe, DuMaurier, Shakespeare, King, Munro and on and on, everyone I’ve read; all ancestors of my writing mind that guide in a cacophony of voices funneled into the words that show up on my paper and screen. An inheritance of literature: A nose or knows here, eyes or I’s here, they’ve all become a part of me regardless of my well-meant intention to keep them away.

But age brings with it at least some insight and wisdom. And, a more honest approach to life and self. I can admit to myself at least that I am a decent writer, a bit better than average perhaps if compared to all of humanity. I can accept reading as a stimulant to write. I can give credit to those writers who have impressed upon me their style and thoughts with their words. Every achievement is a combination of learning and talent. Rocket Engineers are not born knowing how to send a man to the moon. A writer is born with ideas, but without the experience of reading, could not put words together to offer writing that makes worthwhile reading. And lucky for the writer, this particular learning process offers total enjoyment as well.