KEEP READING

        Finally, my first entry on my blog which I've put off for months wondering what in the world I could blog about. As a new novelist, writing has almost taken over my life the past five years. Well, not totally true since I'm not one of those writers who writes every day, and happily, I've reached a place where I don't beat myself up over it!  But I read every day. Who doesn't?  With all the press about the internet taking over, I do find it somewhat appalling that for so many, reading seems to have become relegated to the computer screen, which is usually made up of sound (soundless?) bites, not in-depth pieces. I find the internet to be an endless, valuable resource and could hardly do without it now.  Perhaps I'm old school, but I prefer to hold the physical read in my hands, even if available online. Some of my longtime pleasures are reading the Sunday New York Times, getting the weekly copy of the New Yorker and The Week (if you're unaware of this global publication, you're in store for a huge treat, www.theweek.com), and exchanging/purchasing novels recommended by friends and critics. The paradox of the current (partially eco-)phenomenon of our "losing" the hard copy of the printed word, is the explosion of book clubs (not in one at the moment), writer's groups (I am in one), and self-published writers (I am).  All very encouraging in my book, pardon the pun, but it all depends on having readers, lots of readers. One of the women in my writer's group, Paty Kouba, ends each of our submissions with "Keep Writing!"  Reassurance that emboldens you to just keep going. Like Woody Allen said (perhaps I'm paraphrasing), "Ninety percent of success is just showing up".  Sticking with it, whether you're reading a book or writing a novel, you can only do it one word, one sentence, one paragraph, or one page at a time, "Bird by Bird", as Annie LaMott wrote. So, "Keep Reading", writers need you.