Never read a great book when you’re in the middle of writing a novel. I’ve read three books in the last month (Lone Wolf, The God of Animals and Little Bee). I hated the first and loved the last two.  I was angry the whole time I read Lone Wolf. I gripped the pages, my knuckles turning white, thinking “I can do so much better than this.” While I read that book I wrote a lot, and I loved all of it.

When I read The God of Animals and Little Bee, I felt completely incompetent while writing. I couldn’t believe that those amazing authors used the same tools as me, and yet, with their words they stung together beautiful descriptions and complex characters while I could only cobble together a few clunky, boring sentences. Needless to say, I had a lot of trouble writing while I read…