I haven't always been an avid reader. When I was a kid, I would run away from books. I did whatever I had to do so as not to read. I watched a lot of television; it is easier than reading, so it was a no brainer for me. I did the whole summer reading thing, but that was never for the reading, just the prizes. And sometimes, I didn't do the reading.



Before I go on, I should mention that I do believe listening to an audiobook is just as worthwhile as reading a book regardless, how you bring the words into your mind, whether through letters on a page, pixels on a screen, or words through a speaker, the result is the same. Given the time where I don't have the luxury to pull out a book or Kindle, I do have access to Audible.  With Audible, I have access to all the literature I want. As a result, it's now my primary source of reading.



As I said, I wasn't an avid reader in my youth. However, one day, when I was still in high school, a good friend of mine gave recommended Wizard's First Rule to me. I figured since he was so excited about it and he gave me a copy of it that I would read at least the first few pages. After reading those first few pages, I decided to read the next few chapters, and then the next few chapters. Before I knew what had happened, I had finished the whole book. This single book, the whole series in fact, was my entrance back into the wide world of literature that I didn't even realize I yearned for. If Wizard's First Rule hadn't been suggested to me in just the right way, I would never have gotten back into reading, let alone embrace my ability to tell stories.



And as the saying goes, "Youth is wasted on the young." Now that I don't have the time to read, I keep discovering books that I want to read.  And I find that I wish I could reclaim the time I wasted in my youth and use it to read or write, rather than being so obsessed with TV.