Listening To Books On Audio Makes Me A Better Writer

It’s Wednesday again? How does this keep happening? Seems like every time I write a Wednesday post, I scarcely leave the computer before it’s time to write another one. My Wednesday posts are slowly turning into Thursday posts. Fortunately, it’s not quite midnight yet, at least on this side of the pond, so this is still officially a Wednesday post. :)

Over the past several months, I’ve noticed it’s much easier for me to write if I’ve spent the prior fifteen to thirty minutes reading a chapter from someone else’s book. I’m not sure why, but reading someone else’s words seems to kick my muse into high gear and I find myself thinking more like a writer. I don’t always have the luxury to do this, but when I do, the difference is obvious.

Three weeks ago, I attended a writing workshop in Indianapolis hosted by David Wolverton. The site was five hours away by car, and since long car rides drive me bonkers, I stopped by the library to pick up a couple of books on CD (Dan Brown’s Inferno, and Terry Pratchett’s Unseen Academicals). The ten hour round trip wasn’t sufficient to finish one book, much less two, so I’ve been listening to them the past several weeks during my one hour drive to and from work. And what I’ve discovered is that when I listen to a book, my creative juices flow even faster. My descriptions are better. My sentences seem more professional. I don’t know why, but my brain seems far more receptive to picking up the nuances and rhythm of sentences when it processes the sound of the words.

Of course, this doesn’t help much when I arrive for work, but when I return home in the evening, I’m all fired up and ready to write. Maybe I’ll have to download the Audible app for my phone and start listening to all my books. It suspect it'll make me a better writer in the long run.

Like that’s not going to drive my wife crazy…


Do you prefer reading books or listening to them?

Friday Links -- Volume 38

I spent most of the week on vacation, so not much progress on the writing front. You'd think that having all that time away from work would mean lots of writing time, but it never works out that way, no matter how many computers and writing pads I drag along with me.  I'm guessing I only managed about an hour of writing in six days. Almost makes me glad I'm back to work.

At least the week is ending well. We returned from our vacation to find that the family computer wouldn't start, no matter how many times we kicked it. Turned out the power supply was fried, so I picked up another one at a local store and now everything is back to normal. I wasn't too worried about my manuscripts. They're backed up on multiple computers as well as Dropbox, but every minute I spent getting the computer back up and running was one less minute I could spend writing.

Does anyone have any scary computer stories to tell?

Have a great weekend and enjoy the links!

ChemistKen


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Hidden Emotions: How To Tell Readers What Characters Don’t Want To Show

Are You Showing or Telling Your Internalization?

How to build better relationships with your readers using Goodreads’ “Ask the Author” feature

Navigating the Next Frontier in Digital Publishing: Audiobooks

Mark Coker's Tips On How To Sell More Books

New Authors, Should You Self Publish or Seek a Traditional Publishing Deal?