First Reader, Then Writer, and Back Again
Finding my way back to my precious first love.
It began with “Hop On Pop,” the Dr. Seuss classic. I read out loud “Constantinople and Timbuktu” with all the aplomb of a four-year-old with a dopamine rush. I was now a reader! I read! I read! I found that I come from a long line of readers.
My parents’ library was never off limits to my siblings or me. Books were purchased whenever requested. Time for reading was sacrosanct. My tastes varied over the years, but my voraciousness never quavered, until I had kids.
With children came reading time, tailored to their interests. My time for reading was in the wee hours before the day started or before falling off to sleep. Not nearly the whole day jags that used to be my 20s. I tried listening to books on my commute and found I had auditory processing issues. Eventually, smartphones came, and my attention span lessened further. My reading became more work-related and less for pleasure. Book stores started dwindling in my area. Was this a coincidence?
Then I found writers on Twitter. I bought their books and joined their newsletters. Joined Stanchion and Malarkey Book clubs and get books shipped to my door. I started reading more flash fiction, novellas, and short story collections. Eventually, I found my own literary voice and started writing for myself. Now my reading time was writing time. What would become of the reader?
The reader is always within me. She is me.
Being tasked as a first reader for a few publications has started my foray back into reading. I still love reading voices that are not my own, entering worlds I did not invent, and traveling times that I rarely studied in school. A physician, after all, is a keeper of stories, and in this regard, I have a desire to know about the lives of others.
I have a growing TBR stack on my nightstand now.
This past month I have read, will read, or am still reading, “An Honour & A Privilege: A Craft of Writing Collaboration” by Lindz Mcleod, Hannah Grieco’s “First Kicking, Then Not” both published by Stanchion Books, “The Illustrated Woman” by Melissa Bobe, and just delivered today “Not Finished Yet” by Tracie Adams. During this time, I will also continue my role as first reader. Reading this wide spectrum of shorts across different genres allows me to nibble and bite at my pace.
So with the blizzard coming, I though, for the first time, in a long time, “Yes, I have time to read.” I will make a pot of tea and dive in. Hoping to push past the call of my socials, of my Duolingo, of my ever-growing list of writing opportunities, and get back to the basics — to my roots as a reader.
I am only able to write because of what I read through my whole childhood, starting with Winnie the Pooh. Now that I write more and read less, I worry a little too!
Great piece on the connections between reading and writing - and the entanglements of both. “Eventually, I found my own literary voice and started writing for myself. Now my reading time was writing time. What would become of the reader?” Wonderful post.