mystery – Write 2 Be

I was reading one of the blogs that I follow this morning and in her post today she posted a picture of her bookshelves and posed the question of what your bookshelf says about you. I never really thought of the books on my bookshelves as somehow being clues to a deeper knowledge of the reader which is odd given that I am a writer who has always been curious of what some famous author’s house on their own bookshelves. I got to thinking about my bookshelves and what on earth they could possibly capture about me and my personality or my writing style.

So naturally I journeyed into the living room where my main three bookshelves are (although I have bookshelves located in other locations of the house) to take a look at my books. I have the one bookshelf that is just dedicated to all of my writing style or instruction books as well as dictionaries, travel books, and business books. Then the other two bookshelves are for the fiction (mostly anyway) books but what surprised me about those was just how eclectic my fiction collection actually is. I’m not saying that as a bad thing, I always think that it is good for people to read an array of different styles of books, I just didn’t realize I had branched out into one of those people that actually did.

When I really started to get into my love of reading I was younger so naturally I read things like the Babysitter’s club, Nancy Drew, Sweet Valley High, and those real girly girl types of books. As I got older I was introduced to Eric Jerome Dickey, Mary B. Morrison, Terry McMillan, and more books considered to be urban fiction. As I have evolved into an even better, more matured writer I have historical fiction novels, mysteries (James Patterson, Sue Grafton, J.D. Robb, Dan Brown) and of course some of the classics.

My collection of books says that I have evolved in my selection and also that my yearning for the knowledge of different styles of writing has grown as well. I noticed something else too. Even when I wasn’t really reading mystery books in my younger adulthood I was still buying them and stocking my shelves with books on writing mystery which is odd given the fact that at that time I had no interest in mysteries or writing them. Something had told me to buy them anyway and what’s ironic is now I think that that may be the direction that I want to take my writing in.

I’m not saying that I now only want to write mysteries because there are many ideas for books that I have that are of different genres, but the novel that I am working on finishing up now and that I want to develop into a series is a mystery and I also have decided down the road that I want to write a mystery book series for young adult as well. I guess I just find it interesting that even when I had no idea that I would end up desiring to write mysteries as well as loving to read them I was preparing for this change of direction.

It is interesting when we take a look at the things around us what they can say about us. As we evolve over time so does our interests and our tastes in the materials that we buy as well as the importance of those material things. Sometimes it can be really nice to look at old writings, and old pictures, and even the books on our bookshelves and see just how far we have come and what an interesting (whether wonderful or troublesome) the journey has been. What does your book shelf say about you?

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

https://write-2-be.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

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“Read, read, read. Read everything—trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the most. Read! You’ll absorb it. Then write. If it is good, you’ll find out. If it’s not, throw it out the window.”
~William Faulkner

A writer is supposed to also be a really good reader as well and I have to admit that, while I used to be, I am not the best at reading. Not since I have thrown myself more into writing and concentrating on perfecting my writing skills and techniques. I make an honest effort every year to try and do better at maintaining my reading pace. When I make my list of books to read I try to put a little bit of everything on the list from romantic novels and mysteries, to some writing instruction books as well as motivational books. I typically find myself only completing about half of my enormous list that I actually think I can read in a year.

I suppose I would like to think that I could still read at the same pace that I used to read (like ten years ago). But in reality I know that as I get more and more into writing my novels and other writing projects, I most likely won’t be able to read at that same rate but that never stops me from trying. This year I am really going to attempt to make a manageable list that I will hopefully complete. However instead of packing it with an eclectic mix of genres as I normally would I am going to be reading all mysteries next year. For the last few books on this year’s list I’ve chosen the mystery books and I am really getting into the mystery genre. I really like Sue Grafton and J.D. Robb novels right now.

Also since my novel is a mystery and I am beginning a series, then it seems that I like to write mysteries as well. So if any of you have any mysteries that you would like to suggest for my 2012 reading list I sure would like to hear them. I have a few of my own already to put on there but I still would like to hear what books you would recommend. Well I have a list to go finish. Until tomorrow…What’s on your reading list?