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• 20Jan2012

  Tom Palmer's writing blog - How I write: how you write, Part Two spring term

  Posted by Tom Palmer

  ...On not writing

  I’ve finished the second book in the Squad series: White Fear. 

  So now what?

  Well, I’ve a ghost story I need to do for Barrington Stoke by August and I am going to rewrite my novel about the scorer of the first England goal after the end of World War One. So I could get on with them.

  But not yet.

  Because, for the first time in four years, I do not have a looming deadline. Nothing to deliver for eight months.

  So what am I going to do?

  Read.

  Dozens of books. Hundreds of books.

  When a child in a school asks me for advice about what to do to become an author, the first thing I say is "read". I’m not unique in this. Most writers say that too. Because reading is the best way to learn how to write.

  You can learn how to write exciting action in Anthony Horowitz’s Scorpia Rising, which I did last week.

  You work out how to better create a believable character in Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, as I am this week.

  Or you can try to become a funnier writer by enjoying Cabin Fever by Jeff Kinney. I did that last week too.

  With no pressure to write, I am loving reading. I have a pile of books on my bedside table. Hunger Games in next.

  I feel like I am charging my batteries with ideas and skills and – to be honest – awe at how these writers write. It’s exciting.

  However, all this reading and not writing is not all good.

  I would rather have books racked up to write for the next ten years. But I don’t.

  So now what?

  Read.

  www.tompalmer.co.uk.

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