Lingering in the Books

If you’re in NYC I’ll be on “All Of It with Alison Stewart” tomorrow, Feb 27, on WNYC at 1 EST, answering questions about writing.

If you’re in New Orleans, also tomorrow, come see 1000 WORDS contributor and bright star Maurice Ruffin launch his incredible new novel, The American Daughters, which received a rave review in the NYT. Maurice will be appearing at the wonderful Baldwin & Co Bookshop.

And it doesn’t matter where you are, you can join the Mini 1000 which starts this Saturday, March 2. We will write together for 6 days straight, with letters from me. Nearly 8000 people are signed up. Join in here. It’s free and fun. (I will return to this space on March 11.)

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Hi friends.

A weird thing about me is that if you send me a piece of physical mail I often won’t open it for weeks and weeks or sometimes even months. It’s not because I don’t want to hear what you have to say or am not interested in a dialogue. It’s just that I love reading a letter or a card from someone so much that I want to save it for a day when I need a pick-me-up. Even if there are sad things in that letter it can often be full of feelings, which I treasure so much. And for them to be handwritten (or even typewritten), the fact that someone actually took the time to capture a sentiment for me in such an intimate physical fashion is meaningful to me.

I feel the same about reading everything another author has written, especially if that person has passed away and there will be no more new words of theirs for me to experience for the first time. I always want to leave one thing behind, to know that there is a possibility for a new and energizing literary experience. I am not a completist, as it turns out. I take no pride in being done with someone else’s work. I am a lingerer.

This is when I tell you that I have read all the novels Toni Morrison has written except for one: Jazz. My experience with reading Ms. Morrison, our greatest America writer, is like I have with no other author. When I read her books, I basically re-learn how to write. Even if I’ve read the book before, to study once again how she holds the minds of each character in her hand reminds me of how to do that in my own work. She also inspires me to strive to be better with each book I write, and how to be a better literary citizen. She is one of the most important people in my life that I never got the chance to meet.

And I have left that one book in reserve until this moment. But now I have come to the end, or I suppose the beginning. Because I need the fresh inspiration as I dive deep into writing a new novel. I have decided that I need to read Jazz at last. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Once a woman came to one of readings and told me she wanted to write a book, but she had only read but a few books in her adult life and she wanted to know if that was OK. I am embarrassed to say I yelled at her a little bit. But I insisted she needed to start reading.

You need to read in order to write. There’s no way around it. You need to fill your brain with all kinds of good ideas. You need to get your engine revved up to write a book, and the best way to do that is with another book.

Once a journalist asked me if it was even possible to write a book without reading other writers and I said, “It is possible…but they won’t make it far.”

You need to study how the masters do it, learn from their craft and their skills and their vision. Or you need to get inspired or entertained or captivated by something fun and high-speed and whirlwind, a book with a real kind of momentum. Or you need to read a book of poetry that touches your soul so thoroughly you feel you must rise up and express the contents of your own.

You could, I suppose write, an entire book without reading any other ones. But I don’t think it will be a very good book.

Once someone I loved told me they hadn’t read whatever book of mine had recently come out because they were tending to the care of a sick loved one. They just couldn’t read anything at all lately. “Do what you need to do!” I said. “That’s fine you haven’t read it, I don’t care.” And I didn’t.

Because people matter more than books and sometimes we can’t read at all. Sometimes our brain is stuck or shut down or just unable to receive any kind of literature. Sometimes we need time to recover. There are simply times we can’t read. There are times we can’t write. But when we are ready we will find our way back to it.

We must. If we want to write, we must read.

What are you reading lately?

Jami

You are reading Craft Talk, the home of #1000wordsofsummer and also a weekly newsletter about writing from Jami Attenberg. I’m also on twitter and instagram.