One of my favorite things about reading has nothing to do with being an author.
I simply love books.
Long before I started publishing my own stories, I was a reader. I loved getting pulled into a mystery, trying to figure out what happened, following investigators through clues, and telling myself I would read just one more chapter before going to sleep.
That part of me hasn’t changed.
But becoming an author did add something new to the experience.
Sometimes I’ll be reading a great book and suddenly feel an almost irresistible urge to put it down and start writing.
Not because I want to write that story.
Because reading it reminds me how much I love telling stories of my own.
The Authors Who Started It
Last week, I mentioned that I was reading James Patterson’s Hush after finishing Patricia Cornwell’s Postmortem.
Patterson and Cornwell have been longtime favorites of mine, and going back to authors I’ve enjoyed for years reminds me of something important.
Writers are readers first.
I didn’t start reading mysteries and thrillers because I wanted to study how they were written.
I read them because I loved them.
I wanted the crime.
The clues.
The questions.
The moment when one seemingly insignificant detail suddenly mattered.
I wanted to try to figure everything out before the characters did.
Years later, those are many of the same things I love putting into my own books.
Reading Is Different Now
Of course, once you start writing novels, it becomes almost impossible to completely turn off the writer part of your brain.
Sometimes I notice how an author opens a chapter.
I recognize when the tension starts tightening.
I notice when a clue is planted so quietly that I almost miss it.
Or I’ll reach the end of a chapter and realize the author has managed to make me say, “Fine. One more.”
That’s when the writer in me starts paying attention.
But I never want reading to become homework.
I’m not sitting there with a notebook dissecting every chapter.
I still want to disappear into the story.
If I stop noticing the writing altogether because I’m desperate to know what happens next, that’s even better.
Then the Ideas Start
The funny thing is that reading often wakes up my own imagination.
A good thriller can send my brain wandering in an entirely different direction.
What if the investigation happened somewhere else?
What if the person everyone trusted was hiding something?
What if the detective had to solve the same murder over and over again?
And suddenly, the book I’m reading is sitting beside me while I’m reaching for my laptop.
That’s one of the things I love about creativity.
Inspiration doesn’t mean taking someone else’s story. It’s the spark that reminds you there are endless stories still waiting to be told.
One book can make ten different writers think of ten completely different ideas.
My Reading Life and Writing Life Feed Each Other
Writing makes me appreciate books differently.
I know how much work is hiding behind those pages now.
I know how many times a scene might have been rewritten, how much research may have gone into one tiny detail, and how many decisions had to be made before that finished book landed in my hands.
But reading also makes me a happier writer.
When I’ve spent hours wrestling with one of my own stories, sometimes the best thing I can do is close the laptop and pick up someone else’s.
For a while, I get to stop deciding what happens next.
Someone else gets to do that.
I just get to be the reader.
And inevitably, somewhere in those pages, that little creative itch starts again.
Before long, I’m ready to get back to Sam, Claire, Sloane, or whichever character is currently waiting impatiently for me to return.
That’s probably why there will always be a stack of books beside wherever I’m writing.
One world gives me a break from the other.
And somehow, they keep leading me back to each other. 📚✍️