Read*

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Read Flannery O’Connor. Read Joy Williams. Read William Maxwell.william maxwell Read about the universe. Read about neuroanatomy. Read “On the Origin of Species.”

Yes, really!
Yes, really!
Read “Nine Stories.” Read Tolstoy. Read Carson McCullers. Read Edward P. Jones. Read Willa Cather. Read Yasunari Kawabata. Study atlases and maps. Read E.B. White. Read fairy tales. Remember that “fresh new voices” can come from people over forty. Find those writers and read them. Read Shakespeare. Read Amy Hempel and Lydia Davis. Compare. At least once a week, read a book published by a small press. Read, read, read poetry. Learn the names of all the insects that inhabit your backyard. Or make up names for them. Read Freud. Read graphic novels. Read prose poetry and flash fiction. Study the dictionary. Read a book about a place you never heard of from a writer whose name you can’t pronounce. Read naked. Find and read a newspaper from the day you were born. Or any old newspaper. old newspapersLearn another language, then read a novel or poetry in that language. Read “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish” out loud with no children present.one fish two fish Read philosophy. Buy a thick notebook and write “Sentences I Love” on the cover. Fill it up and buy another one. Read collections of short stories. Read both print and online journals. Read the history of the town you grew up in. Read Jane Austen and Edith Wharton and the Bronte sisters. Read Katherine Mansfield and Shirley Jackson and Kõbõ Abe. Read Grace Paley. Read Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Read long into the night until the characters walk around in your dreams. Read “The Dead” at least one winter afternoon a year. And if your mother or your aunt or your grandmother want to tell you their stories, drop everything you’re doing and listen.

*Originally published as one of my writing tips for Lascaux Review.

8 thoughts on “Read*”

  1. triciaorr

    A sentence I love: “Remember that ‘fresh new voices’ can come from people over forty.” Thanks for the reminder that I’m not over the hill when it comes to my craft and my aspirations!

    1. kathydfish

      I really wanted to make that point. Not everyone begins writing at the age of twenty. A new writer can be 62, with a voice as fresh and original as a twenty year old. The term “fresh new voice” just…rankles, I guess. Ha. Thanks for commenting, Tricia, and I’m glad it was a reminder that you are not over the hill re: your craft and aspirations!

  2. Jayne Martin

    You forgot “Read Kathy Fish!” Got Amy and Lydia at my bedside. Working my way through the Pure Slush series. BASS from ’98 on the way and currently reading Ann Patchett’s new collection of essays. Love your idea of writing down sentences we love. Pulling out a fresh, yellow legal pad to start doing just that! Thanks again, Kathie.

    1. kathydfish

      Hi Jayne, I’m glad you liked the post. I’ve been doing that writing down sentences thing for years. Amy Hempel describes herself as a sentence level writer and it shows. Anyway, here’s to reading! And reading outside one’s comfort zone. Thanks for commenting.

    1. kathydfish

      Yes, absolutely adore them both! William Maxwell is one of the writers who most moves me. “The Thistles of Sweden” is probably in my top ten favorite short stories. And “They Came Like Swallows” one of my favorite novels. I adore his writing. And well, O’ Connor…of course, just, everything she wrote.

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