5.26.2011

and that's that.

oh, this bloggy posting break has been gloriously relaxing.  and yet we're still behind.

 we have a feeeew awards from weeks, maybe months, back to announce our gratitude for, and pass on, and we've also recently been tagged and need to fill out that post and tag a few more of you, but it ain't gonna happen today.  add those items to the "things to come in june once school is out and we are once again stress-free and sane".

we're also hoping for some uber exciting and largish give-a-ways this summer.  think books. and lots of them!  summer reading is SO important.  and necessary.  be excited.  be very, very excited!  think summer block blog party with lots of free food nourishment in the form of well-formed sentences and plots and characters.

other news.  there's a blogfest going on through rachel morgan right now.  you should check it out.  it runs through tomorrow.  go here to read some tense scenes!  (i would have participated, but... i just really, really want to finish my ms-es and get the queries done and get them out.  really, really.)

new topic.

i *christy) miss reading to read.   since i started reading as many YA novels as possible 1)because i love them 2) because i needed to brush up on my genre (since i only read adult novels prior to deciding to write YA), i've enjoyed almost all of the books i've read.  BUT i haven't lost myself in them enough to fall in love with them.  i think it's because now i'm always too aware of trying to learn from them.  i'm reading as a writer, looking at hook, plot, characters, and adverbs and i miss just reading to read, like i did before i decided i wanted to be a writer too.

do you need to turn off the writer in you in order to read a book?  if so, how?  maybe this is just some phase i'm going through as a "toddler writer" (only in my second year), and maybe once my confidence as a writer increases and i no longer struggle to get my words in my manuscript, then my writer mind will shut up when i'm reading. 

(also, watching a movie after reading the book so totally doesn't work for me.  can't do it.  the movie becomes a totally unenjoyable experience.  except maybe the davinci code.  i think i watched that movie without being annoyed.)

do you have any authors or books i should try that will just blow me away?  (this summer i plan to grab a bunch of my old adult books and favorite authors and just read without thinking writing.  i think that will help.)

16 comments:

  1. If I get really sucked into the story I forget to read as a writer. If you're looking to read as a reader, I think the key is to read the things you enjoy most. (I'm not sure if this is making sense due to sleep dep--must finish MS revisions.)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I really liked the book Plain Kate by Erin Bow. Totally got sucked into the story and the beautiful writing.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Unfortunately I can't turn off the writer in me when I read. I wish I could! It makes it tough at times. Early this fall I'll have something good for you to read... Stop by my blog to find out. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Christy, it will get better.
    I struggled with this a lot earlier this year. It was hard to edit/rewrite my manuscript and enjoy reading YA and MG books at the same time.
    Now I'm handling it a lot better, and I can tell my writer self to take a break when I want to enjoy a book just because.
    One thing I still can't do is first draft and read YA and MG books.

    You will find what works for you, for sure. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I've had this problem with some books and in the end, those are the ones I didn't enjoy as much. Others, when I got drawn in by the imagery or the lyrical writing, I could read through.

    My new resolution is - if I don't like it by page 50, I'm going to set it down. Unless it's comes with a huge recommendation - I had a hard time with the first 100 pages of The Book Thief, but it was well written (but boring!), so I stuck with it because everyone told me to and it really did get better!
    erica

    ReplyDelete
  6. Welcome back! I'm one of the bloggers having commenting issue. I found i can sneak around the glitch this way.

    Anyway, I have learned to turn my writer self off when reading. Altho, I started correcting story in TV shows and movies, which drives my husband bonkers. lol

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi, Christy,

    It's so funny, I have the same problem when I read too. I do hope it gets better.

    I'm in that blogfest. I used a excerpt from my short story, Through Shades of Gray.

    I had no time to read anything lately, but hopefully soon I'll have a suggestion or two.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I think once you start writing, you're doomed when it comes to reading. I haven't been able to look at a newspaper or magazine the same since I started editing 10+ years ago, and the same thing is happening now that I'm writing...

    In other news, I'm reading "If I Stay" right now, and it is FABULOUS... Highly recommend~ :o) <3

    ReplyDelete
  9. I read lots of books that I like, but hardly any I really love. I guess I'm just really picky? Maybe it is a writer thing.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I really, really wish I could turn off the inner editor when I'm reading books. It's killed the pleasure several times. All I can say is, when I do get lost in a book and can't put it down, that's when I know the author has done an above and beyond, spectacular job. And I wish it happened more often!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'm not sure it ever gets better, Christy, but I do believe your reading plan for the summer is BRILLIANT! Changing things up and, even more importantly, reading widely and a lot, is the very best thing for our little writerly noggins to shake them out of ruts. I just read a post on someone's blog this morning about losing the natural ability to name all sorts of physical tics/cues that show emotional reactions in characters--she realized her writer's vocabulary was shrinking because she wasn't reading enough! She was spending all her time writing and only looking at her own genre. Wow, did that ever resonate.

    ReplyDelete
  12. This is the problem with me currently reading in large chunks... I remember loving books, but I don't remember which ones! I'm reading P.J. Hoover's Solstice right now & enjoying it. I also just finished Children of Húrin by Tolkien-- it's depressing but a good read if your a Tolkien addict. Oh, and Contact, by Carl Sagan. Much better than the movie. And those last two are not YA.

    ReplyDelete
  13. And apparently I've decided that such things as punctuation, italics, and general usage no longer apply to me. :/

    ReplyDelete
  14. If there's a trick to turning off the writer brain while reading, I'd sure love to know it. I am constantly rewriting awkward sentences in my head as I read and it's frustrating.

    ReplyDelete
  15. For a moment, I got scared that this girl was seeing her family's home being repossessed or something! It made me want to keep on reading! But I feel like it's really unfair of the mom to having the move happen a day or two early.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I've gotten behind, too, with awards and tags and blog comments and stuff. Sigh. We prioritize as we must.

    I can't shut off the writer in me when I read, but it's not always a bad thing. When a book is really good (like, Hunger Games good), the writer part shuts off on its own.

    ReplyDelete

Stay and chat with us! Share your thoughts.