Reading and Writing Styles

These days I have time to do a lot of things, if I really wanted to. I devote a lot of that time towards reading. It's funny, I never used to enjoy reading. I would only read a book if I had to like if it was for school or an assignment. Now I find myself reading for pleasure. I usually read at least one book a week now, sometimes two. After completing each novel I find my opinions and attitudes slightly more skewed than they were before. Go figure.


Reading & Writing

I used to be a terrible writer. My sentences would run on farther than a Kenyan in a marathon and they certainly wouldn't have any direction either. When I started college my papers would get marked with more red than the Red Sea. I think this was mainly because I didn't expose myself to reading enough to get an idea of how things should be written. Sure there were textbooks that I read. You're a fool if you truly enjoy reading those. But maybe I would have enjoyed them more if I had to read them for pleasure. Whenever I read textbooks it was always to study for an exam or to write a paper. Books shouldn't be read just for that though. Reading for pleasure is truly one of the best freedoms we have.

Reading and writing are closely related. You can't be good at one without giving attention to the other. My problem was that I used to think writing was innate in me and that I truly enjoyed it. The truth was, unfortunately, I was bad at it. I used words incorrectly, inserted punctuation in the wrong places, and I never knew how to tell a good story. That's what writing is all about really, telling a good story. I used to think that the semicolon was my friend and that I could use it wherever I pleased; boy was I wrong.


Influences

The last book I finished reading was Catcher in the Rye. It's a good story, there's no doubting that. I benefited most from it by absorbing the style in which it was written: simple and easy to comprehend. Not every book should be written like a medical journal (however those are written). Rhetoric and jargon are for phonies. Catcher is written in a natural voice that we can all relate to (that is unless you enjoy talking like a phony).

A few weeks ago I finished reading a book about saving the Earth. For about a week I was raving mad about saving this planet. It's true, read my past blog entries. I even dedicated a three part series to it. The world felt like it was going to end within my lifetime. I know it sounds crazy but that's how these books mess with your mind. Books like The Revenge of Gaia can really have that effect on you. It could give you such a frightening feeling you would think it was Halloween and everyone was dressed up like madmen.

I guess I'm just easily influenced by things I like, that's all. That can't really be a crime can it? Some people get influenced by worse things. You know it's true. I don't even have to tell you how many things in the world can influence you to do bad things. Cults, business scams, crime, and corruption are just a few to name. I hope reading doesn't ever compel me to try any of those things.

~Anthans