Dear reader, September is an awkward month to write a post about.

I’d like to talk about publishing Dread Reckoning, but I’m not doing that until October, so it’s better to wait. On the other hand, it’s the only big thing in the pipeline, which leaves writing topics hard to cover at the moment.

So, instead of talking about what I’m writing, maybe this is a time to talk about what I’m reading.

You can be a writer without being a reader if God blesses you with a good imagination, sense of story, and enough money to hire an editor. However, I’m personally of the opinion that reading sharpens your writing in all its aspects. It gives you fresh ideas and perspectives.

Personally, I usually like audiobooks, but reading actual literature will improve your grammar, comma usage, and give you insight into clever ways to write and format to give your book ‘character’ that you can’t get out of an audiobook. Not that audio format doesn’t have its own advantages, but as a writer, instead of a narrator, I learn more from the written word even if I prefer the spoken.

So, what am I actually reading?

Well, honestly, it’s a little weird. But you didn’t come to an Odd Man’s Odyssey expecting normal, I hope. I walked into a Barnes and Noble two weeks back and happened to see a collection of the original Grimm’s Fairy Tales on sale with illustrations and couldn’t help picking it up.

The collection of short stories is a good mix of classics I know by name thanks to Disney, PBS, and so on, as well as many that are new to me.

As is brought up among readers whenever the topic of Grimm’s comes up, “Yes,” some of those stories can be sad, deathly, and, dare I say it, grim.

Yet, while I’m not a fan of those themes, I don’t regret my purchase. In these stories, I see the themes and ideas that were the foundation that much of my favorite fiction was built off of.

I’ve been pacing myself to read maybe one or two each day, and afterwards I usually find myself thoughtful.

The question I think I ask myself most often is, “What were the Brothers Grimm trying to communicate?” and with that, “How would I tell that story?”

It’s an intriguing read. So, dear reader, never stop reading, and if you ever find yourself reading old fairy tales, ask yourself: how would you tell that story?

Leading a literary learning life,
C.R. Ware