What does a Writer Read?

Many, many craft books. No, not knitting and scrapbooking and stenciling. Craft as in the Craft of Writing. It's hard to teach someone to write well, but it is possible to guide them in how to market his or her work, how to submit the manuscript, what to expect WHEN you reach the contract stage. Writing is a hobby but it is a business, too. There are guidelines and rules and insider information. One has to research the literary agent (who does he represent?), the editor (freelance or someone working with the agent or publisher?), the publisher (which house and what is their reputation?), and the market (what manuscripts are being purchased right now?)

There are so many books out there, and many provide a large amount of information. And some ..... well, like anything else ..... some provide questionable content. One book contradicts another. One book goes so in depth that you get lost trying to find the basic beginning writer details. And again, like so much else these days, the books are outdated quickly. The market fluctuates, the public demands something new and fresh, the digital age changes ways to submit. And the contracts now must include electronic rights (audio books, ebooks, etc).

When I'm not reading craft books, I read classic literature. Mostly British works. Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, Elizabeth Gaskell, Charles Dickens. I read and reread their works, absorbing every word, revisiting old friends. Writing in a much different place and time, these authors were influenced by the events of their times and by other artists. A good book was one of the few forms of entertainment of the day. Books were read to escape, to enlighten. They were shared. They were reread again and again.

Those times were so much different, but were they better? Authors didn't get large advances and high-paying contracts, but they didn't have to worry about intellectual property nor decipher the extensive legalese of today's contracts. Authors may not have been greatly respected in their time, but they also weren't subjected to the mass-market disposable paperback culture of today. Authors didn't have the extensive supply of craft books available today, but don't these books sometimes frighten talented writers from making this a career?

There is so much to learn about the business of writing. But when all is said and done, it's not reading about writing that is the goal. Writing is the goal. I can read every book out there, the best and brightest and most popular. But at the end of the day, I need to write. I need to face the publishing world and all it's frightening aspects. It's nice to be prepared for that world, but is it better to go into it blind? I guess I'll never know. I currently have sixteen craft books I'm reading or on my shelf to be read. Plus all the others I've already read.

Maybe I should set down those craft books, and when the urge to read one strikes .... take up knitting or scrapbooking or stenciling. Or even better: write!