Double (double)

For the first time in this series, I'm talking about two quotes in one post. O.O

Today we're talking about reading and writing as quoted by Stephen King...














And reading and writing as quoted by Benjamin Disraeli.









After reading the two of these, I noticed something rather interesting (at least, I found it interesting, and I suppose we'll find out if you do, too). See, King believes that in order to write, we have to both read and write. But Disraeli seems to think that reading isn't as important as writing.

Which one's right?

I think a lot of the time it depends on your age and the amount of books on your shelf, because that will tell you just how much reading you've done in your life.

See, what King is trying to say (I believe) is that in order to get better at writing, we have to both read many things by many other authors, and write (both in the style we prefer and the styles we abhor). By doing this, we become better at writing in general, because we know what we like and what we don't like, we have a better conception of what can and cannot be done within a novel, and what we believe works and does not work together.

But once we've gotten to that point, where we've found our style and our niche and we're out of money to spend on other books, then what do we do?

Should we keep reading the same books over and over again, because they're all we have to read and Stephen King says we have to read so we'd better be reading?

I think not.

At this point, we follow the example of Disraeli. When we want to read a good novel, we write one.

By now we know what we like, we know what makes a good story and what makes literary trash, and we're okay with our standards.

We know what type of book we like, and we know what it is that we want to read--but instead of searching for someone else's version, we write our own.

In a sense, the two quotes work together (again, in my mind). But what do you all think? Am I reading these right, or am I crazy to think that one could ever not have enough books, and only read the ones that they themselves write (at least until they have the money to buy more *wink*)?

Speak words here, friends. Tell me what you think, because I really would like to know.

[love]

{RD}

P.s. don't forget to vote on what I should do for my 100th blog post! For the available options, check my post "Eight One" (no, that isn't a typo):

http://ranidivine.blogspot.com/2014/08/eight-one.html