Reading

I've realized that reading, probably more than anything else, inspires me to write. Honestly, I did not truly realize it until this moment. I suppose it's true with most things, that when you see something done is when you most desire to do it yourself. And sometimes that desire fades away the moment you turn your head from witnessing it. I've wanted to be a writer for some time. I remember even in elementary school, though I was hardly gifted in the area, really enjoying projects of creative writing. Journalism and scholarship never really interested me as much. But again and again, throughout school, whenever there was some story or poem to be written, even if I did not do it all that well, I enjoyed that more than any other projects we got. I remember taking delight in those things.

I've been in the process of writing what will hopefully become my first fantasy novel. I'm about a hundred pages into it, which by itself has taken the better part of over half a year, mainly because I'm a slacker or just don't really know what I'm doing. But I was reading a series of books, and oftentimes while I was reading I would be inspired to write some of my own, not because of any idea stolen from the pages that met my eyes, but simply from the aforementioned effect of seeing a thing done. I noticed this a little, but did not notice how strong an effect it was until the now. The past week or two I've been done with that series and I haven't gotten into another one very deeply. My writing has been down. I tend not to write in my book anymore, just for lack of energy or innovation. The spirit of writing, if there is such a thing, is just gone. And then, I was reading an excerpt from a book on amazon.com, just to see if it would be one that would interest me, and when I'm done reading the excerpt, I suddenly have the urge to write. Honestly, it did not last very long. I think I got two paragraphs in, but still, the effect was there, and I finally noticed it for real. I need to get back into a good book, I guess.