The power of books

“One must always be careful of books,” said Tessa, “and what is inside them, for words have the power to change us.”- Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare. This is perhaps one of my favorite quotes from any modern book. Words do have the profound power to change us and I know that they hold a strong affect on writers.

Writers are readers first. The two joys go hand in hand for one cannot exist without the other. Sometimes I find it easy to get caught up in writing that I forget to read. I know, the horror! However, each time I grab a new book I fall in love again. I love discovering new worlds and friends. After reading a really great story I feel reborn and attack my pages with a new sense of purpose and desire.

It’s true that yesterday when I was buried in Cassandra Clare’s latest book, “Clockwork Princess” I didn’t meet my daily word count. Dishes piled up in the sink and my family was lucky to have leftovers. However, today I woke early and wrote two thousand words before my two and a half year old daughter got up. I admire great books, which Clare’s latest book certainly is. It encourages me to work even harder towards my writing goal so that one day readers will feel inspired by my stories.

Words have great power. Great books inspire and they don’t need to be a fantastic non-fiction, fiction is just as powerful if not more because it is pure creation.

What was the last book you read? How did it inspire you as a writer?

We encourage reading at our house. Jedi is a fan of my iPad ☺

NEWS:

This week I was a guest at author Jami Gold’s blog. In preparation of her WANA International website class, I spoke about making the switch from Blogger to WordPress.

Check out Jami’s class and other great classes at WANA International.