I took Snow by Orhan Pamuk back to the library after only one and a half chapters. I think it must be better in the original Turkish but as I don’t read Turkish I’ll never know. But I need a book to read during Nano apart from the non-fiction piled around my bed so I’m re-reading Tobias Hill’s The Cryptographer. It’s been a couple of years and I can only barely remember the plot but I’m mostly reading it for the language anyway.
Some people (writers) avoid reading fiction when they are writing but I’m always writing something. The theory is that if you read too much fiction when you are writing you’ll just end up emulating those writers and lose your own writing voice. I think the answer is to read as widely as possible and write as much as possible. And after all, nothing is created in isolation. Some people might like to think that their writing is unique but it won’t be, everyone is infuenced by someone, whether they realise it or not. And I think it’s better to be influenced by as many different sources as possible. It makes life more interesting an prevents stagnation.
Preventing stagnation during Nanowrimo is of utmost importance too.
Week two is always the most difficult, and for some reason, outside distractions always seem to heap themselves on me during this week, just when I think I’m getting into the swing of things.
I’m going to try and hit thirty thousand today. I’m going to unplug the phone, while I write, which I forgot to do yesterday.