If you’d asked me that question a week ago I would’ve had a
different answer than I do today. I would have spouted off something very
intellectual sounding like Austen and Dickens and maybe slid a few contemporaries
in there to beef up my list like Rynd and Orwell and then just when I had you
convinced I was oh so smart I’d mention Meyer and Stiefvaterto show you I was
trendy, too.
But that was a week ago. Sunday as I was making an Anne of
Green Gables doll for my daughter to go along with the book I want us to read
together and was wrapping the Laura Ingalls nine book set I’m going to give to
my seven year old nieces because that’s how old I was when I read them, I
realized something about myself. I’ve always been a reader, long before I
decided that in order to be a good writer I needed to beef up my own have read
list. I love to read, always have and sometimes the books that influenced me
the most are the simplest. Amelia Bedelia anyone?
Great answer. I always feel bad/stupid admitting to people that I'm not a classics kind of girl. I don't like Jane Austin. I can't get through Charles Dickens. I've never read F. Scott Fitzgerald. I mean, I can tell these people are all beautiful writers, they just aren't for me.
ReplyDeleteI think that, as writers, we don't have to just hearken to the great writers of the past. We are influenced by every book we've ever read. Good and bad, they show us what works and what doesn't.
And I love Amelia Bedelia. :)
Yeh, I've pretty much decided I'm just going to be myself love me or hate me. It's too tiring trying to be someone you're not.
DeleteSome of my favorite books of all time are children's books. That's why I want to write for kids. :)
ReplyDelete