#IWSG: When Writers Read

This month the #IWSG is asking:  How has being a writer changed your experience as a reader?

Short answer: Completely!

Longer answer:

In some ways it's probably for the better. I read better books. Now that I have some insight into the process, I'm impatient with lazy writing or bad editing. I know that there is help to be had, and that hard work improves the piece, and I get frustrated with authors or publishers who aren't putting in that level of effort. I'm definitely more apt to just give up on a book that isn't working for me. Life is too short for that! 

Sadly, becoming a writer has made it more difficult for me to really lose myself in a story. I'm pulled out by things I once would have glossed over or excused, hence that willingness to just stop reading something. That's why I'm so happy when a story can really move me, or make me laugh or cry. It's harder to do than it used to be. I feel like I've become more of a cynic or skeptic, harder to impress. 

I do miss simply getting lost in a book, like a spell has been cast and I can no longer feel the world around me. It's the best sort of escapism. It still happens sometimes, but nowhere near as frequently as it once did. Part of that is just that I am older and I've read so many more things. But part of it that I'm writer.

I'm always reading like a writer these days. Heck, I even watch television like a writer, picking apart plot decisions and characterization to the point that I'm surprised my family will talk to me about stories at all. Whether the story really works for me or really doesn't work for me, I'm always trying to figure out why. Was it falling into stereotypes or tropes without doing anything to make them new and interesting? Was it too much like other stories, with nothing to surprise or amaze me? Was it so different that I felt at sea, with no place to stand and view the story? 

I still love reading. I'm just pickier now. It means I'm frustrated sometimes. But it means that my joy is all the more joyful when I find something that rocks my world. How about you? What kind of reader are you?

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If you're not already following #IWSG (Insecure Writer's Support Group), you should really check it out. The monthly blog hop is a panoply of insight into the writing life at all stages of hobby and career. Search the hashtag in your favorite social media venue and you'll find something interesting on the first Wednesday of every month.