Motivational Monday: A Whole New Book

Sunday Funnies: 75 Times

Umberto Eco: Anything but a commodity

"It is foolish to think that you have to read all the books you buy, as it is foolish to criticize those who buy more books than they will ever be able to read. It would be like saying that you should use all the cutlery or glasses or screwdrivers or drill bits you bought before buying new ones.

"There are things in life that we need to always have plenty of supplies, even if we will only use a small portion.

"If, for example, we consider books as medicine, we understand that it is good to have many at home rather than a few: when you want to feel better, then you go to the 'medicine closet' and choose a book. Not a random one, but the right book for that moment. That's why you should always have a nutrition choice!

"Those who buy only one book, read only that one and then get rid of it. They simply apply the consumer mentality to books, that is, they consider them a consumer product, a good. Those who love books know that a book is anything but a commodity." 

            -- Umberto Eco, who owned 50,000 books

#MotivationalMonday -- Reading is Re-Reading

The Writer Will Take Your Questions Now #294 -- Re-Reading Your Own Work

How often do you go back and re-read your own work after it has been published?

Sometimes.

How's that for a vague answer?

But it's true. There are some stories that I'm just done with once I finish them because I was way too close to them during the telling, and they've begun to get in my head like that "Don't Worry, Be Happy" song did. You know... the kind of song you never, ever want to hear again.

Then there are others that I will go back to again and find that I enjoy very much. I learned this from doing public readings. It always surprised me that I often enjoyed the story more through the act of sharing it aloud with others. I think that may be one of the most amazing things a writer can do with his or her work.

However, I usually have to give myself a year of so between finishing the tale and then re-reading it. One does need a little distance, I've found.