Hello and Happy Monday,

I usually mail on Friday but Monday had to be the day. Are you writing? Are you reading? I’m doing both though I find myself on occasion doing more reading either because what I’m reading is too good to put down or I’m just procrastinating with my writing, so I do a lot of reading. With the reading, I’ve noticed one of the things I like to do is read the introduction when I didn’t like to do this before and specifically with non-fiction and what I call "learning or craft" books like those on the writing process.

I have to read the introduction because so much information is found in those first few pages, sometimes you don’t want to go into the rest of the book because you can learn so much in the beginning. Works on writing have especially good introductions because they give you a great taste of what you’re going to find inside and sometimes tell you interesting stories of how the book came to be, who they worked with to put the work together and how it’s information or lessons can help with my own work and knowing all this before hand usually makes me eager to continue reading.

So I don’t skip many introductions; reading those lets me know if I want to venture further to the heart of the work or realize there is no heart and I might not find the work as good as I once believed. One thing I do know for sure, reading is a fundamental part of my writing and I know I can’t do one without the other—at least not well.

Do both, reading and writing as much as you can, it’s never a waste of time and I believe it makes for a better person.

If you have any comments or suggestions please e-mail me at my new address: shabazzl@adasbcc.org.

Until next time, God willing,

Lori