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I’ve been thinking more about my plans for reading and blogging this year since I briefly detailed my thoughts for 2018 justbefore the holidays. I’ve already shared the Read My Shelf Challenge, so you’ve seen the list of what I’ll be reading. Now I want to get into some of what I’ll be blogging.

Introducing: The Story of the Story

There are so many things I love about reading, but one of them has always been the little tidbits of info I pick up outside of the books I love. What—if anything in particular—inspired the author? What’s interesting about them? Did they do anything a little crazy to get the story? How did their plans change as they wrote and edited?

It’s the True Hollywood Story for book nerds.

Not only do I love this info as a reader, but I find it informative and inspiring as a writer. None of these works come fully formed, and almost all have a story of struggle behind them.

As readers, many of us pick up these little tidbits through interviews with authors that we might happen across, or through active searching for the information. Many authors are active on social media or have websites, and they freely share this information.

I would not pretend that I could tell their stories better than the author, or that I’m telling the full story. But I know that not all readers take the time to look into these details, so I’m hoping my articles will be a fun way to find out a little more. I will mention all the sources I use in this series if you’re interested in reading more in-depth interviews or articles.

I’ll be kicking things off next week, but before sharing the first post I wanted to give a little preview of what’s to come and give you a chance to share what you’d like to see in these posts.

The Books

Here are just a few of the books I’m planning to delve into:

• Everyone Brave Is Forgiven
• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
• A Little Life
• The Secret History
• Beartown
• Bel Canto

I’ve been having a lot of fun reading more about some of these familiar books, and figuring out how best to share what I learn. You may see several different formats to these articles as I work out the kinks, so please share what you like or don’t like.

In the meantime, I hope you’ll weigh in:

• What books would you like to see covered in this series?
• What are some of the things you wonder about your favorite books?
• How do you like to read this kind of info: article, list, or some combination of both?

Thanks for your thoughts—more to come soon!