charles barrow's writing

Ok, so, my autumn reading is organised. Being October, the month of Halloween and all things spooky and dead (I guess), I've loaded up with Stephen King books. I've written before about how I used to be a fan in the early days (both his and mine) and devoured titles like Carrie, Salem's Lot, and Pet Semetary but then drifted away to other genres and authors, but have recently returned. And I've become an admirer once again. I suspect people sneer at his writerly skills because he's so popular (and popular can't be quality can it?) and prolific. But he is a really good writer...which is why he is so popular. I loved 11.22.63 and Joyland. And his book On Writing (part biog and part 'How To Write') is a great read with untold amounts of advice and tips on writing and how he pursues the craft. I heartily recommend that to any aspiring authors. So, anyway, I picked up a few of King's titles and will be enjoying them as the evening's draw in and the ...

Do you ever notice a theme connecting the books you seemingly choose at random to read? I have a major theme running through recent reads and I've only just realised it. I keep reading writers who are writing about writers - and in one case a writer who is writing about a writer who is writing about a writer. It's like a nest of Russian dolls, one inside the other. Perhaps, subconsciously, I am choosing books with this theme, in fact the more I think about it the more likely it seems. In a previous post I wrote how much I enjoyed Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon, a book about an author with writer's block who teams up with a would be young novelist. Since then I have read The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer about a boy who deals with his mental health issues by writing and sketching in a journal. Then I read Oracle Night by Paul Auster about a writer who buys a blue notebook to begin writing again in order to help heal himself after a terrible accident. He writes a story a...