A Favourite Pastime by Carol Harrison

 

I have enjoyed reading since I first learned how with Dick and Jane. Reading opened a world of possibilities for me. The library and church library became favourite hangout spots in my growing up years. Chores got delayed, much to my mother’s dismay at times, because I got lost in a good story and needed to read just one more chapter.

Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Danny Orlis series, and Grace Livingstone Hill were authors and series I gravitated towards. Yet I also could spend hours browsing through the set of World Book Encyclopedias my parents scrimped and saved to buy by the time I reached Grade four. What a wealth of information for my inquisitive mind.

Long after my light should be off at bedtime, I read by the little lamp beside my bed until I heard my parents’ footsteps of the staircase. Sometimes I would then try and read by the light of the street lamp outside my window. This worked better in winter when the trees no longer had leaves to shade the light from shining inside.

By junior high I loved to read to learn. Teachers assigned essays that required research and I never complained. After all my homework involved reading and writing about it.

I married someone who loved to read as much as I did and books became part of our home. Board books appeared before the little ones could hang on to them or do more than chew on the corners. Chores still became sidelined as I succumbed to the urge to read just one more chapter.

Now reading occupies much of my time over the last couple of years. Research has become easier with Mr. Google at my fingertips. The library is right around the corner from my condo and e books are available with the push of a button arriving on my phone like magic.

I firmly believe the saying the writers need to be readers. It opens up a gathering of ideas about styles and different genres. It sometimes shows me what not to do in my writing and other times gives me ‘ah ha’ moments of what might work better to grab a reader’s attention and hold it through the entire story. Both of these ways help improve my writing. As I while away the hours with my nose in a book.

My bookshelves are stuffed to overflowing. I enjoy collecting and reading books by authors I have met along the journey. I have also enjoyed a variety of series by Janette Oke, Lauraine Snelling, and Robin Jones Gunn. Lately I have been reading some Christian suspense. One author that grabs and holds my attention throughout the story is Lynette Eason.

There are many more authors I have read over the years since that first magical moment with Dick, Jane, Spot, and Sally. It’s a wonderful past time and learning opportunity.

Carol Harrison loves to curl up in her big chair in the reading corner of her home in Saskatoon. Here she reads, journals, and just takes time to daydream as well.