Reading Habits

Recent History Of Reading

Before the middle of last year I was easily reading a couple of hundred books a year, but then, my life took a nasty turn and I lost my enthusiasm for a lot of things, including picking up a book. It’s only recently my appetite for reading has return, and I have to say, i’ve truly missed it. Few things in my life give me more comfort.

Reading and writing have often been intricately linked for me. When i’m writing plenty, i’m reading often. When i’m typing my best work, i’m devouring books quicker. It has simply always been that way, even back in my scriptwriting day. I’d write for a few hours, and then read a couple of screenplays. It was how I worked for years, and felt like one of the reasons I was always improving at the craft.

Then, when I made the change from scriptwriter to author, the same happened with books. The more I wrote, the more I read, and the better I believe I became as an author and storyteller.

My Relationship With Books

Books inspire me, as well as relax me. I can disappear into their world with ease, and often don’t find myself distracted when i’m buried in a book the same way I would be with other things in my life. I’ve alway read––baring this last year––but find myself wanting to read more and more of late. Maybe I need the escapist side of books now more than ever before, but I think it’s more linked to my desire to write more, and how I’ve always connected the two.

I’ve started alternating between reading and writing throughout the day, rather than them being separate things. Often, i’ll read for a while, then type for a bit, before returning to the book, and finishing the day editing a chapter. The two disciplines are becoming more intwined––so it’s a good thing i’m enjoying both. The process seems to have given me more confidence as an author, and encourages me to take more chances within my work as I read some of the greats.

The Absence Of Books

It’s difficult losing a passion or hobby in life. It sounds a little silly saying that, but story telling really has been my whole world. Predominantly, its always been through cinema, and largely still is, but books have been a part of that too from the sci-fi and adventure/fantasy books I read as a child, to the YA novels and then horror as I grow older, and now fully back to my roots in science fiction. Losing that desire to read the last year hurt. It felt like something was taken from me––it was. A creative part of me was missing. So, i’m relieved to be able to pick up a book and read again. I truly need it in my life, more than I even realised.

Of course, I always could have picked up a book and read, it was my decision to stop when things turned to shit, but something prevented me. The enjoyment had been sucked out of it. I couldn’t escape into those worlds anymore. Lose myself in fantastical settings, intriguing characters, and wild stories, so… what was the point?

The same could be said for movies, I think I watched less films last year than any other year of my life. The days of a thousand plus films a year might be long gone, but I at least used to comfortably watch a hundred. I don’t think last year was close to that––so it’s nice to be watching movies again as well, but that’s probably a different blog.

Grateful To Be Reading Again

I think at times we believe are hobbies are almost time wasting. We could be doing something productive rather than reading, watching, listening to music, painting, playing a game. It’s only when they’re taken away from us––which they never should be––that we truly recognise their real value and importance to our sanity. Sure, for some, it’s just something to relax us, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that and I one-hundred percent encourage it. But, for me, I felt like i’d lost some of my creativity. I need the stimulate of entertainment to inspire me, bring out the best in me, and quite frankly get me out of bed in the morning.

I’ve never thought it was a consequence that my best work always coincides with me reading and watching more. It’s like it opens up a different part of my brain––I don’t know the science, just the result––so it’s one of the many reasons i’m really happy to be reading everyday again. I need books in my life. I need that escape and adventure, but most of all, i’m not ashamed to say, that I need that inspiration and encouragement books offer me.

I have so many of my own stories to tell, and reading other peoples work helps motivate me into writing them.