Practices that Motivates Natural Reading
Seriously. Here I’ve been purchasing books written by other authors, reading those books, reviewing books, blogging, publishing books, writing and publishing my own books, supporting literary events…basically covering many literary bases…for a pleasant number of years… sometimes feeling like a lone little fish in a big sea, all to find out I am not alone at all. To the number of activities and individuals pursuing literacy with a seriousness, my heart has been touched. If I was really motivated before, you’ll now find me ‘off the grid’ with motivation.
One of the best ways to practice good literary citizenship is by adopting or practicing habits that motivate natural reading.
#1 Talk up books we can’t put down.
#2 Know it’s okay to put down any book that bores us to tears. In fact, just for kicks, visit a library or bookstore and open as many books as possible, checking them first pages to see how many you end up closing. I ‘promise’ one you’re going to open and not be able to close.
#3 Looking for something upbeat to post or tweet? This is the spot to share book titles we think we might want to read. If we might be interested, someone else might be interested too.
#4 Avoid, however, promoting or endorsing books we haven’t read. Don’t expect everyone to be like Mikey. If you won’t or can’t eat it, it’s unlikely that others will want to either. In this case, action speaks louder than words.
#5 To that tune, speaking of children…Let children decide what they want to read. We may not like what they are reading, but the worse that will happen is they'll become bookworms…provided the parent proffers a solid nurturing environment around them.
#6 Did you know, most avid readers became avid readers by starting out reading BANNED BOOKS? Remember this.
#7 And authors, or readers, when sharing those great books ‘offline,’ entertain the audience by ad-libbing what makes the story a must read, instead of reading sections from the book.
Thank God it's Tuesday. Happy Reading!
#6 is so true. The first books I'd read was Little Women and Moby Dick. Didn't know until years later that they were banned books. I was gifted with a Judy Blume book called Fudge-A-Mania when I was 7-8 years old. And once again, didn't find out until years later, that a lot of her books are censored and banned. I thought she was a comedic genius. I couldn't stop laughing because of the antics of Fudge, his older brother and Sheila. I even read some of her other works like Forever. And even today, I still don't understand what those stories had worth censoring or banning for.
ReplyDeleteHaha... 'a comedic genius!' Although many of the 'banned' books I don't know what was so bannable about them. Books teachers used to push on kids bored about 99% of the class to never wanting to pick up another book again. If only I had the foresight to know what I know now...what motivates reading, I would've shared what I was reading...LOL...
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