Writing and Reading
Writing is hard and challenging work. The rewards of sharing your stories and knowledge, however, are priceless.
Last month I had the pleasure of introducing a workshop speaker at my writing group, SouthWest Writers. I’d heard Hallie Ephron speak before at writer’s conferences, and she’s an excellent writer and writing teacher. (See https://hallieephron.com/)
Like most presentations these days, many participants and Hallie attended via Zoom, but her style and ability to connect and engage with the audience didn’t falter from her live presentations.
This was obvious in the level of participation from the audience. The questions asked and the comments made were thought provoking and sincere. These were writers—published or aspiring authors—who are serious and passionate about writing. They are hungry for knowledge and eager to learn.
Writing is hard work—especially if you’re writing a book. No, the words just don’t automatically flow onto the pages and once you reach the end, you’re done. There are edits, reviews, and rewrites, lots of rewrites. Experienced writers and authors, including Hallie, will tell you that. Barbara and I frequently recall the author Harlan Coben saying that he writes the first chapters of his books about 25 times. There were sighs of relief heard throughout that audience that day.
Listening to Hallie once again made me recall all the work that goes into a book, especially a work of fiction. While Barbara and I only dipped our toes into that pond with They Did What? which is creative nonfiction, we were and continue to be hungry for knowledge about how to write good and appealing books, regardless the genre.
The day after this workshop, I was drawn to an article in The Washington Post about a group of high school students who formed a banned-book club. Yes, they are reading books that have been banned in their school district.
They are having thoughtful conversations about the books they are reading, just as the writers were having thoughtful conversations about the books they were writing. They are passionate about reading. They are hungry for knowledge and eager to learn. And, they are fighting for their right to read, for the right to grow and have diverse histories and stories heard.
What a contrast, I thought. Do these citizens who are challenging and removing these books have any idea of the thought and hard work that goes into writing and publishing these, or any books? How hard authors work or how little they get paid? Of course they don’t.
I never thought that being an activist would involve reading—fighting for someone’s right to read and defending libraries.
If there are groups of teens in your community fighting book bans, support them. Fund their ability to purchase books.
If you don’t have one, get a library card, and check out a book. If you have one, use it.
Support authors. Buy their books, and write positive reviews for them on Amazon.
Support independent booksellers. You can easily order books directly from Bookshop.org or IndieBound.org.
Help maintain the intellectual freedom of our communities. Support books and the right to read them.