I stutter and stammer my response, for the answer is never as easy to express as the question, so let me begin to explain myself by first referring to other glorious writers who have come before me as I emerge blinking and blind into the light of day.
For it is not so much as the way a writer writes, for I think I can on occasion string words together as crudely as a garland of popcorn on a Yuletide tree. The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold,.
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights but the strangest they ever did seeโฆ. Sentences sentence me as the testimony of the sum and signature of my person, the deepest reflection of an identity undefined and undefinable crawling haltingly from the cocoon of my consciousness, is read against me.
Each word is made of Roman characters chiselled from the frozen fortress that protects me from myself. Reading and writing are two sides of the same coin, but it is not only what you read that is important, it is how you read as well. As to what I read, this is a combination of serendipity for new literature at least new for me and a nostalgic return to old previously read works. Reading books in this way allows you to examine a narrative closely, locating and identifying dee p structure and embedded themes.
It has been suggested that we should try to begin reading not just for pleasure, but also for ideas. It is good to read as widely as possible โ especially outside your race, class and gender. The reading of other writers and noting how they write is one of the least expensive and gentlest schools of learning of all. That exploration of extensive reading is done through the search of each calendar date and the subsequent revelation of authors who have lived, published or died on that date.
