“Writing comes from reading.”
I remembered so clearly reading that line in LL Barkat’s Rumors of Water, reading about those two precious daughters of hers, one walking around a farm reading Sherlock Holmes, the other taking on the voice of a favorite author in her own work. I remember LL recommending to one of her girls that she should read a book by Michael Pollan, and I remember all three “girls” reading poetry at dinner, when LL’s husband was away on a work trip.
I remembered all of that this morning as I began planning to write about reading, how reading shapes our writing. How writing becomes our own after we have read and read and written and written, sorting through other people’s structure and word choice and voice to find our own.
I remembered. I did.
Except I couldn’t find that line anywhere in the book. I skimmed through the table of contents, certain there was a whole chapter on it. I skimmed through every chapter, certain there was a main point about it. I found Sara reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle at Linsay’s farm, and the reference to Sonia’s voice after reading too much Clarice Bean. And there are LL and Sara and Sonia, all sitting around the table reading “One Art.”
But what about the quote on reading? Nowhere.
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When I turned 10, I received the complete collection of Laura Ingalls Wilder‘s Little House on the Prairie series. I don’t remember the gifts I received for most other birthdays, but those books were special. It was also the first year my parents were separated. A girl remembers what books she reads at times like that.
By age 10, I had been reading for six years already. I had been writing for five of those years. In first grade, I wrote my first research essay. My brother, a fifth-grader, was working on a report about one of the 50 states. Not to be outdone, I decided to write a report on a state, too. I chose Kansas.
My brother, probably on the prompting of my mother, turned my report in to his teacher along with his. Granted, my report was basically just extrapolated from the “Kansas” entry of the World Book Encyclopedia, but his fifth-grade teacher rewarded my first-grade moxie with an A+.
The Kansas prairie was the famous setting in the Laura Ingalls Wilder series.
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In 7th-grade English, I was introduced to “creative writing.” Each week, our teacher, Kurt Bullock, asked us to write two full pages of whatever we wanted. I wrote about princesses and fairies; I did a five-part series about a reporter with the last name “Levin.” Basically, I was in heaven.
The year I started doing creative writing was the year I discovered I wanted to be a writer, not a teacher.
Mr. Bullock had graduated from Taylor University, a place I had never even heard of, and he told us college stories of things like taking cars apart and reassembling them in the dining hall. He had big, blond curly hair that looked a lot like William Katt’s leading character in the television show, Great American Hero. And he didn’t even send Mark Timm to the principal’s office for yelling out a swear word when the metal cover off the air conditioning unit crashed to the floor next to his desk. (Or was it Kyle Zeronik who yelled the swear word?)
In the 7th grade, my mom remarried and I moved to a new house. That weekend, I didn’t have time to do my creative writing assignment, so instead, I wrote something about not having time to do my creative writing assignment. Mr. Bullock wrote me a note on the paper when he returned it, telling me he didn’t care what I wrote about. He just wanted me to write from my heart and do the best job I could every time.
I kept that paper for a long time, along with the copy of Silas Marner Mr. Bullock loaned me. George Eliot, the author of Silas Marner, was actually Mary Ann Evans. She used a pen name, Mr. Bullock had told me, because women weren’t allowed to write books in the olden days.
Somewhere along the way, sometime after I graduated from Taylor University, the creative writing paper got thrown out and the copy of Silas Marner sold in a garage sale. I didn’t need them anymore. I finally believed I was a writer.
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After several minutes of searching through LL’s Rumors looking for the quote on reading, it dawned on me. Maybe I read that bit about the reading and the writing somewhere else.
Sure enough, the quote was right there on one of LL’s blogs.
My sweet Sara reads about a six hundred (unassigned) books during a school year and a great deal of poetry. All that reading, I’m convinced, has shaped her writing.
But the Sherlock Holmes, the Clarice Bean, the poetry — they had already told the truth of the matter.
And so did the little girl on the prairie and the World Book Encyclopedia and the paperback copy of Silas Marner, for sale on a folded card table for 25 cents.
Writing comes from reading.
Want to be a better writer? Read more.
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I’m a writer-in-training, embarking on a master writing journey. Want to join me? Leave me a note in the comments about how you are improving your craft, writing books you are reading, or ways you are living intentionally as a writer. Need some other ideas?
- Read Ann Kroeker’s Five Writing Strengths and consider what skills you bring to writing.
- Visit Diana Trautwein for her Review of Rumors of Water.
- Enjoy Cheryl Smith’s I’m Buying Rumors of Water. Today.
- Buy LL’s Rumors of Water and consider how your life lends itself to creativity.
- Join Laura Boggess at theHighCalling.org to share stories about how reading has influenced you.
If you write about writing, or reading, or the intersection of reading and writing, drop a link to your post in the comments, and I’ll link back to you in my next writing post.
Great post, Charity! I wrote and read all the time through grammar school and high school. At some point while having kids I stopped writing and reading book at my age level. My mom kept encouraging me to write more, and so I began a blog and started with the idea that I’d write down the stories I tell my kids. Well, all I needed was a little push, and I could hardly stop writing! I think to become a better writer, I’ve found that I need good literature to read and just practice, practice, practice. 🙂 Now, I’ve published two books! Pretty amazing!
Can’t wait to read more of your blogs!
Oh, Charity – this is so wonderful to read. God bless Mr. Bullock – and every author who ever inspired/blessed/encouraged a young girl reader like you.
And thanks for the mention of my post – I did a literal double-take to see my name on your blog!
Rumors of Water. Oh my goodness. What a book. Loved it!
(I think Creative Writing was my favorite class ever. I remember wanting all of my classes to be Creative Writing. And I do believe that teacher had a divine appointment as your 7th Grade teacher.)
Write from the heart and do the best job you could every time. So much wisdom in those words.
You’re so right! I say that to myself ever so often. And the more I read good writing, the more it motivates me to want to write, and write well.
Thanks for that post, Charity!
Amen.
Amen.
And why am I delighted to know that Jennifer and I finished Rumors of Water at the same time? That’s just plain silly.
I. Love. This. There is so much good to ponder here, Charity! I had a lot of favorites, but my favorite, favorite line was this:
“A girl remembers what books she reads at times like that.”
Amen to that, sister! I don’t know how I would have made it through my parents’ divorce without books.
And now, I have to go re-read Rumors of WAter :).
Such a precious glimpse into your writing psyche! Look what L.L. is doing to all of us!
I read voraciously as a child, but stopped in high school and college unless it was assigned. I was an English major, and my writing sucked. I see that now. A friend got me reading again around age 30, and these last 10 years have produced much better writing.
Bless that fifth grade teacher…and Mr. Bullock, too!
We need words of encouragement along the way. The author of Write to Discover Yourself become a penpal of mine, a friend, an encourager. I wrote to her after revisiting the book in college, and she wrote back. We still interact–we just exchanged e-mails last week.
You never know where reading and writing will take you, eh? Even to places like…Laity Lodge!
Oh, and as you know, I’m married to a Taylor grad; while writing is not his strong suit (he was a computer science grad), he can hold his own. He even spotted two typos on the PowerPoint slides on Sunday during the last worship song.
I’ve been contemplating the same questions you ask here, over at my cyberplace.
Rumors of Water has come at just the right time for me. I finished the book yesterday afternoon, and I might just have to pick it up and start re-reading it again tomorrow. It’s just … that … good.
When I walked into school to start my stint as a student teacher, the cooperating teacher asked me, “Are you from Taylor? All the best student teachers are from Taylor.” That was the first time I heard of Taylor.
It sounds like some of that preparation for pedagogy rubbed off on you. Even if your aim is to write, you add teaching to it. Maybe teaching comes form learning as writing comes from reading.
Thank you.
PS: it is no accident that the Greatest American Hero on the TV show was a teacher.