There’s a great quote from Terry Pratchett I see from time to time that I think about religiously then, clearly, promptly forget. It goes:

“If you are going to write, say, fantasy – stop reading fantasy. You’ve already read too much. Read other things; read westerns, read history, read anything that seems interesting, because if you only read fantasy and then you start to write fantasy, all you’re going to do is recycle the same old stuff and move it around a bit.”

This reminds me of a quote from Grant Morrison, which I can’t find so I’ll do my best to paraphrase properly here, where they said something similar. They would read everything but comics, save what they needed to for research to help fill their need. Biographies, science journals, etc.

I think I’ve read about 4 or 5 middle grade books this year. Picked up a few nonfiction memoirs/how-to-write books. Delved into older YA (or is that called new adult?). And purged a TON of manga which was soul cleansing to read that much. Highly recommend.

As it stands I’m at about 82 books read for the year.

That means close to 6% of those were middle grade, the book level I want to write.

I guess I’m giving myself permission in the new year to read what I want. Yes, I want to write middle grade books for kids ages 8-12, the best middle grade books, but i can’t do that if I only read middle grade.

Give yourself permission to not have to read stuff you feel like you have to. Also, life’s too short to read books you hate.

Thanks for reading,

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