READING

Ok. I do a lot of reading. I think it's important to read. We learn about our craft and how other, better, not not so much better, writers are doing it. We should read books in a genre and books not in our genre. But we should read. And yes, I think we should read while we are writing.

Some say that you shouldn't do that, but I disagree. I read every day. It might not be a lot. Last night I only managed about 6 pages before I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. A couple of nights ago, I stayed up until 3 am just to finish the book. Yeah, that says something right there, but trust me, can't compare the books. The one I finished in a day, well, it was a short romance. I think one from the Desire line. Great story. Lovely alpha male character. Loved him. Yeah baby.

Sorry. Back to reading other things. What I'm reading right now is non-fiction and it's very deep and uses words I don't understand. I've had to look a few of them up in the dictionary and once I couldn't even understand the definition. Geez, starting to feel dumb here.

This author was recommended to me. Well, not recommended. I just happened to ask a friend what she was reading and she mentioned a different book by this guy. I went to the bookstore and found the other book. I shrugged. I mean, it looked interesting, but this book, the one I'm reading, seemed really intriguing. So, I bought both, but started on this one first. I know, you're dying. What is that I'm reading.

Ok - THE BLANK SLATE by Steven Pinker. The other book by him that I bought is THE STUFF OF THOUGHT. Yeah, I know. Sounds kind of out there for little miss Jenni who is all full of sweetness and nice. Stop laughing. This side of me is all sweet and nice. Well, just stay on the right side of me and I won't do anything to your shampoo bottles. Don't ask.

Anyway, there is some serious BF Skinner stuff going on in this book, but the concept really interests. I mean, is there such a thing as human nature? Are there things about us that are in our genes and we can't change? Things about our persona? Or are we a blank slate and molded and formed into the adults we become?

It really does propose a million and one questions. It makes you wonder if you had a different environment as you were developing - would you still be you? or would you have been molded into something different?

I find it fascinating that we are always using the excuse for our middle child as "Well, nothing we can do. It's just the way he is. The way he was born." Well, is it? Is his good oddness because he was born to be the funny guy, or is that way we as parents and a society molded him? Maybe it's just because he's the middle kid and needs to stand out for attention?

Sure - you have DNA. Things that say how tall you will be. The color of your hair. How big will your big two be. The color of your eyes. But there is nothing there that takes into account the type of person you will become. Will you be an introvert or an extrovert? What will you desire? Who will you become?

Yeah. I'm not the biggest fan of psychology. However, I think it's important that we as writers really look into the different concepts of psychology and humans differ and possibly why they differ. We have to make our characters real and in order to do that we have to understand them at some deeper levels. I guess that would be understanding the psychology of characters.

So. That is why I'm reading this book. I'm hoping it helps me dig deeper into my characters. What I'm really hoping is that it stays out of my own mind. Believe me, that is a place no one ever needs to go.