Writers Are Readers

     There's something you didn't know. Well, I have been told that not all writers are rabid - I mean avid - readers, but I've never met a writer that wasn't a book lover. Some people in the industry advise writing what you like to read. Others say not to do that because you may unintentionally copy the work of writers you like.
     Since most writers are bibliophiles who will and do read anything and everything, like me, they probably like to read different types of books. I like mysteries and claim to write them (however else others might classify my writing). But I also like paranormal, biographies, humor, fantasy, historical fiction, travel, memoir...
     I believe what a writer reads and which authors they like says something about them, if not about their writing, so I want to share who some of my favorite authors are.
     The best, most amazing, wonderful mystery novel writer ever is Dick Francis. Stephen King is also an incredible novelist, but much of what he writes is stuff I can't read, so I can't enjoy his work properly.
     My other writing idol is Charlaine Harris. (See "What We Can Learn From Our Idols).
     Authors I love whose new books I await impatiently for months and then read in a matter of hours: Janet Evanovich, Tim Dorsey, Mary Janice Davidson, Jim Butcher, Rick Riordan.
     Writers I like and have read many, but not all of their books: Robert B. Parker, Dean Koontz, Elizabeth Peters, Harlan Coban.
     Classics I read over and over are those of Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie and Mary Roberts Rhinehart. (All mystery writers, notice.)
     Being a children's librarian there are also YA authors I read and love, including Sharon Creech and Robert Newton Peck, as well as certain kids books I like, such as the Henry and Mudge, Encyclopedia Brown and Nate the Great books.
     I'm sure there are others in all these categories that I'm not thinking of right now. There are a few authors whose work I've read avidly and then lost interest in, but I won't mention them here.
     All of this says something about me as a writer. I plan to explore and share soon what it is about these authors that I most enjoy and admire.

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