I read a book one day and my whole life changed.

Light The Dark:
Writers on Creativity, Inspiration,
and the Artistic Process

Light The Dark: Writers on Creativity, Inspiration, and the Artistic Process is the latest book I’m reading.  I’ve had a challenge finding any fiction to read recently, having borrowed several books from my library in the past six weeks or so.  No fiction has turned me on.  Nonfiction is where I find my inspiration now. Writing books have always been a favorite of mine, and this book along with several others have been an inspiration.  I highly recommend the two below:
Dancing on the Head of a Pen
Still Writing: The Perils and Pleasures of a Creative Life

Read my column that refers to Still Writing:
Writing Saved My Life

Reading and writing have been such an important aspect of my entire life.  I feel blessed that I followed my bliss and continued with my writing career even though roadblocks had been placed in my way.  Many people said:
No.  You can’t do that and expect to make a living.

So I went around the roadblocks and worked my way into the book field, working first at RJ Julia Booksellers, my local bookstore, then at The EC Scranton Library.  All the while I continued to write; first short stories then moving into blog content.  I let no one dissuade me.  In fact, as I may have said here previously, the BEST motivation anyone can give me is try telling me no.

And now, while I haven’t yet broken through and made a living writing, I DO have two books being published later this year.  So I will paraphrase the above quote:
Reading a book has changed my life for the better.

For without reading EVERYTHING, you can’t expect to accomplish ANYTHING!  Ray Bradbury I think said it best:
“I’m completely library educated. I’ve never been to college. I went down to the library when I was in grade school in Waukegan, and in high school in Los Angeles, and spent long days every summer in the library. I used to steal magazines from a store on Genesee Street, in Waukegan, and read them and then steal them back on the racks again. That way I took the print off with my eyeballs and stayed honest. I didn’t want to be a permanent thief, and I was very careful to wash my hands before I read them. But with the library, it’s like catnip, I suppose: you begin to run in circles because there’s so much to look at and read. And it’s far more fun than going to school, simply because you make up your own list and you don’t have to listen to anyone. When I would see some of the books my kids were forced to bring home and read by some of their teachers, and were graded on—well, what if you don’t like those books?”

And here’s another by Bradbury:
I spent three days a week for 10 years educating myself in the public library, and it’s better than college. People should educate themselves – you can get a complete education for no money. At the end of 10 years, I had read every book in the library and I’d written a thousand stories.

So turn off your television and immerse yourself in the written word.  
Your brain will thank you.
Your eyes will thank you.
Your writing will thank you.

Be Happy!  Be Well!  Be Positive!
Blessings to you.
—
Chris

Once you realize that life is eternal,
That our souls our eternal,
That we return to light and physical over and over;

We then lose all our distress
We then lose all our fear of dying.  For there truly is no end.