A few weeks ago a friend put me onto some Stephen King quotes about writing.

I found them very interesting, but one of them gave me an idea.

I’m a slow reader, but I usually get through seventy or eighty books a year, most fiction. I don’t read in order to study the craft; I read because I like to read.

This got me thinking – how many books do I read in a year? Definitely not 70 or 80. I’m actually quite slack on reading. Or at least have been.

However, since I got my kindle, and have a half hour train ride morning and night, I have been reading so much more lately. I’ve even begun reading in the half hour before I go to sleep again.

I really do like to read, I’ve always been quite an avid reader. And in order to be a good writer, you should read, because you learn a lot from it, so says Stephen King* again.

If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.

So my idea is to a) keep track of the books I am reading and b) aim to read about 70 or 80 books this year.

Now, I know I probably won’t get there simply because I do have a 9 to 5 job, unlike Stephen King, but you have to start somewhere.

I’m going to set up a “Book Index” like my recipes index to keep track of the books I’ve read and the ones I want to read this year. I’ll also try to incorporate my Goodreads account somehow, as I have it, yet barely use it.

And maybe, just maybe, if I read more, I might be inspired to write more.

*Note to self: read more Stephen King.