Reading anything you can get your hands on

I have this weird obsession with reading. I not only will read anything I can get my hands on, but I must. Even if I'm sitting on the john in the morning, I have to have something to read. The shampoo bottle is fine if necessary. Whatever, as long as I'm reading.

It's like my mind can't stand to not be doing something. On the bright side, I've read all sorts of things that I otherwise wouldn't have read. When I was a child I literally started at one end of the library and worked my way through because I didn't have anything better to do. I wasn't athletic, and I wasn't very social, so what else is a girl to do?

At least it kept me out of trouble. Mostly. My mother had to actually take away my books periodically and make me go play outside so I didn't turn into a pallid, morose little child. :-)

As an adult, the magazines and books can't come fast enough. As soon as one is in my house it gets devoured quickly, shelved, and I wait expectantly for the next. It's an expensive hobby, to say the least. I'd go to the library, but their stuff tends to be out of date. Being the sort of instant gratification person that I am, I can't handle that. Ah well.

Anyway, my point to all this is, I think reading so much gives you an 'ear' for how a book is constructed, how it flows, what elements need to be there, etc. I draw on everything I've ever read, good or bad, when I write my books. Not to plagarize but to use as an educational tool. I'm grateful I'm so obsessed with reading or I wouldn't be as nearly prepared to write a book.

Or this could all be some sort of contorted justification for an as-yet undiagnosed obsessive/compulsive disorder. lol. I think I prefer the former explanation.