"If
you wish to be a writer, write."
–Epictetus,
C. 50-120 A.D.
My
father was an avid reader, mainly mass market paperback books, although my
parents did subscribe to Book of the Month Club. Of those books I recall Kon-tiki, Payton
Place, Captain and Kings, What Makes Sammy Run, A Woman Called Fancy, all of
which I read as a kid, along with others.
Daddy would read every night as soon as he finished reading the
newspaper. He always had a book in his
hand, whether he was watching TV, or just sitting in his upholstered platform
rocker in the living room. He was the
main reason I came to appreciate books as I did. After I was married, he would often give me a
bag of paperback books, usually lots of Detectives and Westerns, Louis L'Amour,
Max Brand, and a few spicy books (spicy for those days of the early
1960s). I recall reading one of the
spicy popular gems, and deciding I could write that. So one night after putting my two young
children to bed, I got out my typewriter and began to write a sexy novel. Didn't go well. I gave up on the second night. So for a time that squelched by writing
career. I told my Daddy and he just
smiled. A couple of years later, I wrote
a nonfiction children's science proposal and sent it off to NY. I soon had a response and the editor wanted
to see my manuscript when completed.
Well, that scared the hell of me!
I never finished the manuscript! Soon
after I did write a children's storybook but NY turned it down. I often wish my Dad was still here to
experience my writing since those days.
He passed in 1978, before I seriously got back into writing. But I thank him for encouraging me to read!
Did you receive encouragement from someone to read books?
~Linda
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