I don’t always read fiction books. I do include books that I think will include useful information to help me improve my writing. I currently have several books on crafting scenes in my queue to read and I started with this one: Setting: How to Create Authentic Settings that Readers can’t Get Enough of by Justin Herzog.

I haven’t made it far into the book that is only 59 pages on my Kindle Fire Tablet, but so far it reads like an ELA Common Core textbook where it talks about the influence the setting has on the characters and plot. As a former teacher, I already know this. Yes, the struggle is real.

All of that aside, I do want to offer some advice when it comes to reading while writing. Always be in pursuit of improving your craft. Read nonfiction books about writing. Read fiction books in the genre you want to write. Seeing what other authors are doing in their writing can help you with your own.

In my last book, Romancing Mr. All-Star, I read a lot of romance, even some spicy romance. While I read these books, I thought about how the author crafted their characters, and what I found was that it improved my Show, Don’t Tell. I can see this when I compare it to my earlier writing. When you begin writing, you will probably be rough around the edges. Your writing may not read like perfect prose. This takes time and revisions. Revisions is not editing. It’s reading and changing for clarity and story continuity. It’s improving your piece until it is perfection. And what you may find later on down the road after you learn a few more things is that you probably could have improved that piece even more, but you didn’t have the skills needed back then.

In my current book, I’m hoping to improve some of my writing and provide a more interesting story.

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