Once a writer becomes serious about their craft, reading no longer has the power to entertain them because a writer develops an editing mind and that mind has its own “little red pen”. Gone are the hours lost in other worlds, and other people’s lives. What once was fun and relaxing, suddenly becomes just another story to critique.

When a writer reads a novel (a published novel), their editing mind finds mistakes and offers suggestions on how to fix those mistakes. It tells them what’s wrong with the main character, find plot holes and picks on sentence structure. It’s so annoying because a writer wants to be a reader…a normal reader. They don’t want to be “on the job” twenty-four hours a day. They have a right to relax just like everyone else.

So how does a writer get rid of that “little red pen”?

Don’t look at me for the answers. I can’t help you with this one. I have my own pen that needs to be capped. If you discover a way to deal with this, let me know.

Filed under: My Writing:, Personal