Monday, January 14, 2008

Quiet winter days, perfect for writing

Many of my friends find the days of winter perfect for writing. The best writing days are snow days when no one wants or needs to go outside. In fact we are told to stay home. Stay off the roads, we hear from the media. I like this time of year for many reasons, but having the chance to hole up, stay in pajamas all day, and read or write with no interruptions, that is the best! Who is going to drop in on a cold wintry day? No one.
I also find that some of us use the winter days to clean out the clutter. Clean out closets, clean out the garage, throw away, give away, and recycle all those literary magazines, books we've read. If I bring home one more book, I'll have to give one away to find room for it.
Do you ever buy books that you hope to read one day, but that day just hasn't come yet? I have read very little fiction in the past several years, but I buy novels that I know I will love when I get back to reading fiction.I've run out of room for these books, but if I packed them in a box, I'd forget I have them, and then I'd probably buy another copy when I see one in the store. I thought I was a nut for books, but recently when my sister left her home of 30 years, we packed boxes and boxes of books, and she wanted to keep them all. She had no place for all those books in her two bedroom villa at her independent living facility. Of all her possessions,the books were the ones she most hated to give up. She would hold a dusty hard cover by one of her favorite authors, open it and say,"I think I'll keep this one. I'd like to read it again."
Why do we love books so much? I have been a reader since I was a small child and most of my writing friends also fell in love with reading when they were children. Not only did the books take me to far away places, the characters became my good friends. Jo March in Little Women was my best friend. What a character!I believe it was Jo who planted the writing seed in me. Like my sister,June, I think I'll read that one again.

1 comment:

  1. Ah, wonder just how many of those seeds Jo planted? I suspect she could give Johnny Appleseed a run for his money, given all the women I know whose passion for words was spawned from the pages of "Little Women!" I reread that wonderful book every year or so, and enjoy its warmth and humor each time.

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