#I think it’s like 1/3 poetry 1/3 romance and then the rest is literary fiction & nonfiction

[geryone]

131 BOOKS?

Yeah & about 15 of those books are Julia Quinn rereads so don’t be too impressed

[oliviermiraarmstrongs]

mid-year book freak out tag

thank you @bloody-wonder for giving me an excuse to share my book thoughts!

1. Best Book You’ve Read So Far in 2021?

It’s gotta be The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood; I hear “feminist period novel about mentally ill woman unable to cope in upper-class society” and I am THERE! It’s like [Stefon voice] This book has EVERYTHING: repressed women, a decaying old house, a complex relationship of two sisters, a pulpy sci-fi story-within-a-story-within-a-story, criticism of capitalism and reactionary attitudes and politics, commentary on how conservative society shuns those it perceives to be “other” and a threat to the social order (poor people, socialists, “unconventional” women). It is EXTREMELY my shit.

2. Best Sequel You’ve Read So Far in 2021?

The only one I've read is Siege and Storm, so Siege and Storm! Shadow and Bone was captivating, if a little simplistic, but the sequel really fleshes out the characters, setting, and themes. It’s great to see Alina take a more active role, and I love the exploration of sainthood. 

3. New Release You Haven’t Read Yet, But Want To?

I’m really curious about Michelle Zauner’s memoir Crying in H Mart. Same with Axiom’s End, which I haven’t really been seeking out, but it’s been resting on my list since I like a lot of Lindsay Ellis’ stuff.

4. Most Anticipated Release For Second Half of 2021?

5. Biggest Disappointment?

The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood. I’ve been getting into Atwood, and I have a soft spot for female-centric retellings of myths, so this was on my list for a long time. It’s not bad; it’s decent as a character study and offers some good perspective on the hanged slave women from The Odyssey, but overall it came off as...bitter? And not in a good way. It’s reasonable to include commentary on how bad things were for women in ancient times, but after a while I’m just like “But there had to be a time when Penelope was happy, right?” But the biggest failing has to be the treatment of Helen. Why a story focused on bringing literary justice to silenced women also characterizes Helen of Troy as a manipulative, arrogant bitch who single-handedly ignited the Trojan War because she enjoys fucking people over, I’ll never know. Ironic that in the opening chapter, Penelope bemoans being used as a yardstick with which to judge other women, and then the book proceeds to do exactly that with her and Helen. Can’t let Penelope have a positive relationship with another woman! There could be some form of unreliable narrator at play, but there’s not much indication that that’s the case here. Even Homer had a more nuanced portrayal of Helen than this!

6. Biggest Surprise?

I suppose The Red Tent. I picked it up at a Goodwill because of my aforementioned interest in female-centric retellings. It’s not amazing, but I wasn’t really expecting it to emotionally affect me like it did. You spend so much time setting up Dinah’s family and this supportive community of woman within a patriarchal society, only to have Dinah abandon it all after getting betrayed by her father and (most of) her brothers. Hearing about how her family fell apart after she left and she never got to see her mothers again really gets to me. The book has flaws for sure - neither of Dinah’s romances are developed very well, and some of its themes can come off as gender essentialist - but I think it’s a nice exploration of female labor and traditions that too often get ignored.

7. Favorite New Author?

The only relatively new author I’ve been reading is Leigh Bardugo, soooooo... honestly I don’t know what I can say that hasn’t already been said, I got into the series pretty late. Great world-building, witty dialogue, a familiar type of story with enough interesting ideas to make it feel fresh. Check out Shadow and Bone if you get the chance. Sound of the summer.

8. Newest Fictional Crush?

You would think it would be Nikolai Lantsov since I just finished reading Siege and Storm and he seems to be the fan favorite... but nah, not yet. He’s fun, but he doesn’t hit me in that way (Though very sexy of him to just casually proposition Alina and Mal for a royal polycule, a la Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot; would love an AU where they accept his offer). However, I would let Zoya murder me. Every time Zoya is not in a scene I am asking “Where’s Zoya?” Also shout out to Alina, just because I would treat her better than all the men in her life! 

9. Newest Favorite Character?

Gonna try to do this without spoiling too much, but Laura Chase in The Blind Assassin really resonated with me. Her personality reminds me a lot of myself, especially as an an autistic person, like the way she has her own way of thinking that makes perfect sense to her, but makes other people see her as odd and naive. I love how she’s set up in-universe as this Sylvia Plath-esque tragic heroine, with Iris spending the rest of the book interrogating and deconstructing, and in a way, reconstructing this image of her. Atwood you’re insane for this. I forgive you for the Helen thing now.

10. Book That Made You Cry?

I never got as far as crying, but the part in The Goldfinch where [spoilers incoming] the art heist goes wrong and Theo is alone in the hotel room and he’s spiraling and considering suicide and finally dreams of his mom… all that was too much for me and I had to put the book down for the night. This guy just can’t catch a fucking break.

11. Book That Made You Happy?

fucidjdjdj I didn’t read any happy books this year. Shadow and Bone and Siege and Storm because I read them really fast unlike my usual months-long reading schedule.

12. Favorite Book Adaptation You Saw?

Predictably, Shadow and Bone. I basically bought and read the book less than a week before the show came out because I thought it looked interesting and wanted in on the hype (mostly because Jessie is cute 🥰). Honestly, the show improves a lot on the first book; the multiple storylines make it more dynamic and complex, the actors really help to make the characters feel more fleshed out, and Alina and Inej interacted for like three scenes, introducing an unexpected but thematically rich ship.

13. Favorite Review You’ve Written This Year?

14. Most Beautiful Book You’ve Bought So Far This Year?

I impulse-bought this book of Romantic poetry at Barnes and Noble just because it was pretty and I had a gift card

15. What Books Do You Need To Read By The End Of The Year?

Besides finishing The Grisha Trilogy/Six of Crows duology/Zoya’s duology that I forgot the name of….I don’t know. I’m not a reader that plans in advance. I acquire books, finish whatever I’m currently reading, look through my stacks deciding what to read next, spend an hour doing so because I can’t decide if I’m in the mood for any of them, and either force myself to read one or buy/borrow a new one.

I’m tagging @betweenironyandsilver, @illuminaticns, @borispavlikovskys, @chdarling, @sctine, @mightyaubs, @excuseforadrink, and @trckstergods, if you wanna! Or anyone who wants to yell about books.

[ezeshopgo]

Personal Development for Writers: Seven Ways to Increase Your Writing Range and Raise Your Income

Earning a living from writing is challenging. You will earn more if you challenge yourself instead of waiting for the challenges to come to you. Many good writers don’t succeed commercially because they don’t have a game plan and they wait for luck to send a break their way. You’ll have better luck if you stack the odds in your favor by following a personal development strategy for your writing business. Here are seven strategies you can use to increase your writing range and boost your income potential in the process.

1. Develop a Writing Business Plan

If you just want to write for fun without making money, that’s fine; but if you want to earn a living writing, you should treat your writing as a business. This means you should develop a business plan for your writing.

Some of the most important items your plan should cover include:

+ Income goals: How much income do I need to generate from my writing to meet my overall financial goals?

+ Career options: What type of writing can I do to generate that level of income? A few examples of writing specialties: business writing, copywriting, grant writing, medical writing, and technical writing. There are dozens more that could be listed.

+ Job opportunities: What kind of writing job do I need to reach my target income level? Will I be a regular employee or a freelancer? If I’m going to be a freelancer, how many clients and projects will I need per year and per month, and what will I need to charge?

+ Operational plan: How many hours a week do I need to write to meet my income goals? What will my daily schedule be?

+ Job hunting plan (if seeking an employer) or promotional plan (if seeking freelance clients): If I’m seeking a regular employer, where will I apply, what will I include in my portfolio and resume, and what communication tools will I use to approach prospective employers? If I’ll be freelancing, who will I promote myself to? What will I emphasize to communicate my expertise? What promotional tools will I use? How much will this cost?

+ Start-up capital: What office equipment and other resources do I need to meet my goals, and how much will this cost?

+ Training: What writing skills do I need to acquire, develop, or improve, and how much will this cost?

+ Financing: How will I finance my writing business expenses?

+ Taxes: What tax forms will I need to file? What do I need to report? Can I claim any deductions?

You’ll get the most out of your business plan if you keep it short and update it periodically. When you first write your plan, you should be able to briefly cover most of the items listed above in about three pages or less. You can always expand points you need to develop (for instance, you will probably want to add some pages to develop your promotional strategy in more detail). But keep your main points short so you don’t get overwhelmed and you’re not inclined to let your plan gather dust once you finish it. Refer to your plan periodically to renew your focus, and update it quarterly and annually to reflect any new information or changes to your situation.

2. Set Writing Goals

To implement your plan, it’s important to set specific writing goals. Three of the most important goals you should set when you start out are:

+ How many job applications or prospecting contacts will I make per week in order to get enough interviews for jobs or clients?

+ How many hours a week will I write?

+ How many hours a week will I train to improve my marketable writing skills, and in what areas?

The rest of this article will focus on the third goal by suggesting some ways to expand your writing skill set.

3. Read Inspiring Authors

Almost every good writer started off as an avid reader and learned by imitation. Today I earn an income as a nonfiction business writer, but my original inspiration to write came from reading things like DC and Marvel Comics, the novelization of Star Wars, The Hobbit, and Stephen King novels. Fiction remains my preferred mode, and I go back to certain authors periodically to draw inspiration and study techniques. Read authors who can motivate you, teach you, and refresh you when you need a break from commercial writing.

4. Expand Your Vocabulary

I grew up in a home where card games and word games were war, and a Scrabble board was a battlefield. I don’t like to lose, so I hit The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary early. I set a goal to increase my scoring average to 20 points a play, then 30, then 40. My record before I quit playing for points was 212 points for one word (“SERVICED,” crossing two triple word squares with the “V” doubled plus a 50-point bonus for a bingo) and 605 points in one game. Today I play only for fun, so my family now has a rule that I’m only allowed to play four letters a turn.

This handicap has actually made me a stronger player, because it forces me to be more alert to word opportunities inherent in combinations of four letters. I look at the first letter on the rack and study all the words I can make starting with that letter. Then I move to the second. I keep going until I find the word that will make the most points.

+ Playing word games like this is one way to practice expanding your vocabulary. Other ways are:

+ Reading older authors who used words that are less common today

+ Studying Greek and Latin root words

+ Writing poetry

+ Making puns

+ Writing summaries of others’ ideas in your own words

+ Rewriting your own sentences using different words

When you’re expanding your vocabulary, keep in mind that learning new words is only part of the big picture. Learning new words is good, but it’s even better to learn to make better use of the tens of thousands of words you already know. I usually avoid using esoteric vocabulary when I write, because on most business writing projects, my goal is to communicate and persuade, not to show off my creative writing ability. I find that plain English usually works best for this. “SERVICED” is not an uncommon word. I just used it in the right place at the right time. A big part of expanding your vocabulary is simply spotting more opportunities to use words you already know.

5. Stretch Your Stylistic Range

Just as you can practice expanding your vocabulary, you can practice stretching your stylistic range. This will make you a better writer, and it will also make you better equipped to take on different types of writing projects that can earn you more money.

How do you stretch your style? One way is to practice saying the same thing in different ways by varying each of the elements of style. Another way is to take each of the elements of style and practice using them.

The elements of style include:

+ The characteristic vocabulary you use, such as repeated words and phrases

+ Whether you rely on nouns or adjectives for descriptions (rule of thumb: focus your descriptions by selecting more precise nouns and eliminating unnecessary adjectives)

+ Using active vs. passive sentence structure (active is preferred, but both have their place)

+ Writing in the first, second, or third person

+ Writing in the present, past, or future tense

+ Writing statements vs. questions vs. commands

+ Using formatting codes like bold, italics, bullets, and numbers

There are many, many ways you can practice using each of these. To illustrate how you could expand your descriptive style, take the word “blue” and think of all the different kinds of blue there are. Sky blue. Ocean blue. Dodger blue…There are actually over 50 recognized shades of blue the human eye can distinguish. How precisely can you distinguish them when you write? How would you compare cerulean blue to turquoise? Can you make the blue of a calm, clear sky sound different than the blue of smiling Irish eyes? The more precise your color vocabulary, the more power you can pack into your descriptions of color. Practicing expanding your color vocabulary and descriptive ability is one example of how you can stretch your style.

6. Experiment with New Formats

Another way to stretch your stylistic range is to experiment writing in new formats. This will also enhance other aspects of your writing.

You can experiment with many different formats. Writing poems will build your sense of rhythm, your efficiency at picking meaningful phrases, and your ability to see symbolic relationships between words, images, and ideas. Writing plays will improve your dialogue. Writing fiction will hone your pacing. Writing classified ads will force you to write succinctly. Direct mail sales letters will teach you how to appeal to emotions. Academic writing will teach you to appeal to reason.

7. Write about New Subjects

While expanding your range of style and format, you can also add substance to your repertoire by writing about new subjects. One way to do this is to use a subject you’re familiar with as a springboard to research a related subject you’d like to learn about.

For instance, if you’re used to reading and writing about exercise, you might take the opportunity to learn about anatomy or diet. You could take this a step farther by reading up on health and fitness marketing, in the process expanding your knowledge base from the health and fitness niche into business.

You can apply the same principle by writing in new fiction genres. For example, early in my fiction writing career, I realized that I was coming at fiction from the perspective of a guy who likes action and battle, but most fiction readers are women. To improve my fiction range, I started studying romance novels, soap operas, and other genres geared more towards female audiences. This added a new layer to my writing, increasing not only its literary depth, but also my ability to connect with new markets. The more you can write about, the more readers you can reach with your writing, and the more opportunities you have to earn an income from your writing.

Source by Roy Rasmussen

The post Personal Development for Writers: Seven Ways to Increase Your Writing Range and Raise Your Income appeared first on ezeshopgo.

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[limejuicer1862]

Wombwell Rainbow Interviews

I am honoured and privileged that the following writers local, national and international have agreed to be interviewed by me. I gave the writers two options: an emailed list of questions or a more fluid interview via messenger.

The usual ground is covered about motivation, daily routines and work ethic, but some surprises too. Some of these poets you may know, others may be new to you. I hope you enjoy the experience as much as I do.

  Rachael Ikins

Rachael Ikins has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize & CNY Book Award multiple times and won the 2018 Independent Book Award for Just Two Girls. She featured at the Tyler Gallery 2016, Rivers End Bookstore 2017, ArtRage gallery 2018, Caffe Lena, Saratoga Springs, Aaduna fundraiser 2017 Auburn, NY, Syracuse Poster Project 2015, and Palace Poetry, Syracuse. Her work is included in the 2019 anthologies Gone Dogs and We Will Not Be Silenced the latter Book Authority’s #2 pick for the top 100 Best New Poetry Books for 2019. She has 7 chapbooks, a full length poetry collection and a novel. She is a graduate of Syracuse University and Associate Editor of Clare Songbirds Publishing House. She lives in a small house with her animal family surrounded by nature and is never without a book in hand.

Associate Editor Clare Songbirds Publishing House, Auburn NY

https://www.claresongbirdspub.com/shop/featured-authors/rachael-ikins/

2018 Independent Book Award winner (poetry)

2013, 2018, 2019 CNY Book Award nominee

2016, 2018 Pushcart nominee

Www.writerraebeth.wordpress.com

https://m.facebook.com/RachaelIkinsPoetryandBooks/

@poetreeinmoshun on Instagram

@writerraebeth on Tumblr

@nestl493 on Twitter

Above all, practice kindness

The Interview

1. What inspired you to write poetry?

I started writing poetry in second grade when I was 7. I still know that silly poem by heart that I’d written for Halloween. And it was about cats. Some things never change, although I write about more than cats now. As far as inspiration I suppose it was hearing it—I speak several languages— poetry is its own language. My first grade teacher had us copy poems to learn penmanship from the chalk board. My father used to have me read psalms from the Bible at bed time as I learned to read more. I think I was just born a poet. Only one period of my life was I unable to write and that was caused by serious adverse reaction to medications. It was a bleak time.

2. Who introduced you to poetry?

I have already mentioned my dad and my first grade teacher. The most significant person was my 8th grade English teacher. A poet and author herself, she presented the unit on poetry ( met with groans esp. from the boys) by having us go out into the community to find poems in magazines and periodicals and cut them out. To create a notebook of poems. She had us each get a copy of two seminal poetry books, Poetry USA and Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle and we were assigned poems and practiced. We performed for a small crowd one afternoon in the school library. It made a huge difference to be taught by someone who was passionate about poetry. No English teacher for the rest of my school years ever came close. We are still friends. She is in her 80s now and still writing in multiple genres, attending workshops and publishing.

3. How aware were you of the dominating presence of older poets?

I’m not sure what this question refers to. Older in history poets or older people I knew who liked or wrote  poetry. My father was given, as were all soldiers, The Pocket Book of Poetry.  Soldiers would carry it under their helmets. My dad still had his copy, and we used to read from that little book. So I was aware of the masters as a kid, but had not known an actual adult poet until I was 14.

4. What is your daily writing routine?

I tend to work in the mornings. I browse markets using social media a lot, too. If I find something interesting I will match up the pieces I want to submit and then revise and polish. As far as new work, again, it tends to be written mornings. I was riding my bike yesterday morning, and a poem started up in my head. This has always been a way I write. Other days something will happen, something that has been subconsciously simmering will say “It’s time!” Whatever else I had planned that day will take back seat to the need to write, and I may write for 5 hours straight.

Walking or riding and letting my mind roam. Once the body is craving relief, all extraneous clutter- thought goes away and clears space for something new to appear. I just listen for it.

5. What motivates you to write?

A feeling of not having achieved some mysterious rubicon yet. I have won a lot of prizes and as well published quite a lot of books with three publishers in multiple genres, and yet I  am just driven. I also have to say, I think I can’t help it. Writing is like breathing to me. “Write or die.” I would also like to make a significant amount of money at my craft/passion to make a dent in my monthly budget. Would I like to support myself at it? For sure, but I don’t know if that will ever happen. I have intense focus and ability to pursue something no matter who detracts from it. That has done well for me, too. Because in spite of teacher support, my family never took my writing seriously until the past decade.

6. What is your work ethic?

My work ethic has always been work hard and  help one another. We are all in this together. Contests aside, we are not competitors though some act that way. Help someone else. Don’t trample someone with your ambition. Pay it forward. Honesty. Write honestly.

7. How do the writers you read when you were young influence you today?

Oh, that is an easy one. I first tried to read Tolkien to myself as an 8 year old. Was a tad daunting. Instead I read all of Milne’s Winnie the Pooh books. The classics. Read Tolkien again in my 20s and was hooked. Both these authors made a mark on me somehow, scarred my heart and brain because decades later after writing nothing but poetry since age 14, in my 40s I wrote a series of children’s stories and the initial chapters of what became the first book in the Tales from the Edge of the Woods series, Totems. My understanding of fantasy and my choice of magical characters and so on was sparked by those great authors. My children’s stories stayed in a box until about a year ago, through 7 moves. I showed them to a publisher last year and we worked on edits. A Piglet for David will be coming from Clare Songbirds Publishing House later this year, the first in a series of young reader chapter books.

8. Who of today’s writers do you admire and why?

I admire J. K. Rowling though I am not a Harry Potter fan. Like her, I have known horrible poverty. You just do the work, period. And if you become successful, you do good with it. I also have always admired poet Marge Piercy. Since her book The Moon is Always Female in the ‘80s with its erotic poems connected to the natural world and also cat poetry Marge has seemed to appear along the journey just when I  needed an example to follow. I have also been at work on straight fiction, a lesbian adventure/ romance for awhile. I have never been fond of reading explicit sexual descriptions. It bores me. Do it, don’t discuss it lol.

I had to write a love scene and had no idea how to do so. One thing about love scenes is it is easy for them to be unimaginative.

I was in a bookstore and found an anthology Best Lesbian Erotica, not sure of the year. Looking through the table of contents I saw Marge Piercy had a short story in it. So I bought it, read her story and the rest of them, then faced off one night, sweating, in front of my computer and wrote the scene. A few years later my story “The Horse Rescuer” was accepted for publication, and I was paid probably the most for one piece I’ve been so far.

In 2014 I noticed Marge on FaceBook so I private-messaged her, one of those “You don’t know me but…” expressions of gratitude for her presence in my literary life. She responded and suggested I submit to her June Poetry Intensive. She chooses 12 students for a week long workshop every year. I finally got to meet my hero.

I like Mary Oliver’s poetry, too, but Marge is the one who has always been there in some sort of magical way. There are really too many authors for me to list.

9. Why do you write as opposed to doing anything else?

I can’t not write. And when a poem in particular or a scene if we’re talking prose, starts coming together in my mind, I have to stop whatever else I’m doing. It’s like going into labor I guess. You can’t tell the baby you’ve changed your mind, stay in there.

10. What would you say to someone who asks “How do you become a writer.”

You write. The best way to become a writer is to read everything you can get your hands on. Then you write. Maybe you start out emulating a style of someone you like to read. Keep writing and eventually your own voice will be heard. Writing is the most labor-intensive, long-term gamble of a profession going. You can theoretically spend, for example, 5 years writing a novel, another several seeking an agent and publisher if you want to go the path of the big 5 publishers, and yet you can spend a whole decade of your life on that one project and it may never be accepted. Or sell. Know that up front. Study. Go to workshops. Find a writing group. Read at open mics. And if/ when you reach a point where you have something to submit, read the specs the publisher lists as to how to submit to their publication. It shows respect. Many a writer has been summarily rejected for not submitting the way the publisher requested. Be tough. Opinions are completely subjective. Being rejected by a publication is meaningless. Editors are human beings. We all have different tastes. Don’t take it to heart. If you are lucky enough to get a note of feedback along with the rejection, learn from that. Read books about writing.

It’s hard. Be aware. Being a writer is not for the faint of heart. If you are serious about it you will pursue it no matter what. We only pass this way one time. So if you really want to do this, do it.

11. Tell me about the writing projects you have on at the moment.

Right now I am in the midst of launching my mixed-genre memoir, Eating the Sun. It is the love story of my husband and me. Organized by seasons of the year, the garden is the vehicle that takes the reader on the journey. Each section starts with narrative and then has poetry related to it, and finally recipes created by us from garden ingredients we grew. I use my artwork often in my books when publishers allow it.

This book has pen and inks, photography and cover art by me. I have a second manuscript submitted to a publisher. It is all poetry titled Confessions of a Poetry Whore. Another poetry  manuscript  to be sent this fall is titled Riding in Cars with Dogs.  It will be the companion book to my previously published For Kate: a Love Story in Four Parts written after the death of my beloved cat, Katie.  Since grief is a universal experience and so is love, no matter what shape the beloveds, this book is accessible to anyone who has lost someone. The second fantasy book of the Tales of the Woodland series,  Beach Wrack has been written and edited professionally and is in the queue with a mid-level publisher. Book 3, Through the Hedgerow  is half written.

All four or five of the young reader chapter books are written as well. A Piglet for David will be Book 1. These also have my artwork as illustrations.  My work is contained in 5 upcoming anthologies, and I am eagerly awaiting copies. All releasing this summer and fall. Both writing and artwork.

Last but not least, I am at work on a thriller/horror genre novel. Haven.

Wombwell Rainbow Interviews: Rachael Ikins Wombwell Rainbow Interviews I am honoured and privileged that the following writers local, national and international have agreed to be interviewed by me.

[themikithornburg]

How can I share a love of reading with my child?

I have in my mind's eye a memory of one of my stepdaughters at about age eight, kneeling on the basement stairway, lounging on her elbows a few steps up, chin resting in one hand, nose in a book. Her love for reading had overtaken her there; if you wanted to get down to the laundry room, you'd have to go around her. Now that same little girl is (gasp!) the grandmother of an almost-five-year-old, and she's hoping the same thing a lot of readers hope for their children and grandchildren, that a love of reading can be passed down to a new generation. We know that people who read for pleasure are on average more successful academically, and therefore economically. But for us book-lovers, the hope is more personal. We want to share our great joy in reading with the people we love. Sadly, that hope isn't as easily fulfilled as it once was. Distractions seem to multiply by the day. When my stepdaughter was little, "screen time" meant TV time only, and her parents put limits on that. Back when I started to read, we didn't even have a television set. (Yes, I hasten to say, TV had been invented, but the signal from the nearest station didn't reach us.) And it's not only that there are more distractions, or even that our lightning-speed media have shortened attention spans. I don't know if any studies prove this, but talking with students for many years makes me pretty sure that, for a lot of young people, the process of turning words on a page into scenes, pictures, voices, a kind of reality, has never been learned. What for me is the magic of stepping into another world through the pages of a book is, for them, simply not possible. They see words, they know what the words mean, but turning those meanings into vicarious experience, the way a film becomes vicarious experience, is something that just doesn't happen. No one taught us to do that; we learned it somehow on our own. But these kids haven't learned it. This makes reading a chore, sometimes necessary but never pleasurable. They can read, if they must, but it's no fun. It's not something they'd choose to do if they didn't have to. How can we overcome this? How can we share our love of books with our children? An internet search for phrases like "motivating kids to read" brings up millions of suggestions. Some of them seem fairly obvious, others not so much. I've chosen three to list here: 1. Start early to read to your child. This sounds obvious, but it deserves discussion. Early means early. Even very young infants are soothed by the sound of your voice, by the rhythm of phrases and sentences. We know that babies are busy from a few months old, learning to recognize words and speech patterns long before they start to speak. They're fascinated by funny and unusual sounds, like rhyme. Take advantage of that fascination! Babies are natural lovers of words, even before they know what the words mean. And reading out loud to them establishes a tradition, something they look forward to in the relationship between you and them. Children of any age like to be read to. On a very basic level, it means your attention is focused on them, and children – as parents know – are little attention hogs. The reading session is an intimate moment, strengthening the relationship bond. This means that the story you're reading is the medium of the bond. It's part of the intimacy, which is one reason children love to hear the same story over and over. Remember this, when you're bored to tears with Good Night, Moon for the forty-seventh time: repetition takes your child back to a good, comfortable place they'll associate with a book, with reading. But more than that, being read to releases a child to enjoy the story or poem without having to struggle with the printed words. This, believe it or not, is true even for older children and teens. When you read to them, they can get into the story itself, without printed words standing in the way. This is exactly what you're striving for. Even older teens (even middle-aged people, in fact) enjoy being read to. When I was teaching university undergrads, I'd occasionally read a poem or a few paragraphs of prose to my class, and I soon discovered that they loved it. This surprised me, but it shouldn't have; aren't audiobooks a big, profitable business? 2. Take the child's interests into account. If your child is interested in dinosaurs or pirates, give them stories about dinosaurs or pirates. Make the stories age-appropriate – which means, make them a little older than what you think is age-appropriate. As you've probably noticed, kids' minds are stretching, almost always a bit faster than their parents guess. Don't hold them back; pull them forward, a little at a time. Under this heading comes something more than any obvious interests the child has expressed. You know this little person. You know what will appeal to her delight in magic, or to his sense of humor. When I was about ten, my mother gave me a book she'd loved when she was about ten – an adult book, but one a ten-year-old could get into. How did she know I'd love it? Because she recognized things in me that she knew about herself. Share your own reading enthusiasms with your kids, and pay attention to what sets off a spark. 3. No Fighting, No Biting! This is the title of one of my favorite kids' books (by Else Holmelund Minarik, illustrated by Maurice Sendak), and it's also very good advice. Remember, your goal is a child who loves reading. You won't get there by bribes or punishments or rules. Reading should be a reward, not a chore – and certainly not a bone to fight over! If they don't like a book, don't force it on them. If they don't feel like reading, let it go until they do. This can be hard, and there's no law against offering enticements – talking to them about a story they really liked and tempting them to reread it, or putting an interesting book in their line of sight when they're tired or bored or feeling not quite up to snuff. But do not set an hour each day for reading and hold them to it. That makes you a dictator, and kids don't like being dictated to any more than you do. And let kids know that you yourself see reading as a reward, that it's something you do for pleasure. Also, other than observing obvious no-no's (for instance, not giving erotic romance to a nine-year-old), don't worry too much about content or form. What they read doesn't matter so much as the fact they enjoy it. When I was a young teen, I read my way avidly through a whole series of really silly, old-fashioned love stories. I know my mother sighed, thinking they were stupid and "a bad influence" on me. But I loved them, I was evolving as a reader, and if it hadn't been for those books I might never have moved on to Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte. Comic books and graphic novels are fine, no matter what your own parents' taboos may have been; in fact, the presence of pictures probably helps bring a visual reality to the written word. Give your child access to as many different books and kinds of books as possible. Fiction, non-fiction, fantasy, adventure, mystery, poetry, biographies, great literature and the literary equivalent of junk food – they're all grist for your mill, widening the reader's potential horizons and increasing the chances that a child will hit upon something he or she doesn't want to live without. As a reader, whether you're a parent or sibling, grandmother or grandfather, aunt or uncle, you're doing your best to pass along your joy in reading. If you have a suggestion I haven't mentioned here, leave a comment to share with the rest of us! I wrote this post, in a slightly different form, as a guest post on a friend's blog a couple of years ago. I thought it was important enough for another outing. For many years, my friend Anne Click taught reading at the university level to kids who needed a remedial course in this basic skill in order to succeed in their other classes. Some of you may find this shocking, but I can assure you it's not at all uncommon. These young students, in their late teens or older, are not below average in intelligence; actually, the fact that they've managed to get through twelve years of schooling without being able to read well suggests to me that they're extremely clever and resourceful. Anne tells me that the top reasons they've gotten that far without learning to read well are, "in no particular order: 1) stymied brain development in the first 3 to 6 years of life 2) absence of books and or role modeling of reading in the home 3) failure mindset/lack of confidence 4) lack of curiosity (most essential quality of a successful student)." Surely, these are handicaps that the adults in these kids' lives can and should be aware of, and can and should attempt to correct early, before the child suffers the real and difficult consequences of not being able – or not wanting – to read.