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Susheela Narayanan's avatar

Love that phrase ‘Bookish & Tookish’ - and yes, I love reading but my writing is based on my own experiences.

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DeAnna's avatar

Needing to have your own experiences in addition to reading makes so much sense! I hadn't thought too much about it before but most of my characters and their adventures are based off of something I've seen, felt, or read. It all works together to make a new story!

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James W. Shrimpton's avatar

Bookish and Tookish is a marvelous way of putting it. The job of the writer is to be a melting pot of ideas all to themselves. Experience, reading, writing, all muddled up and refined into a rather mixed metaphor that communicates something true.

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Sara Bannerman's avatar

Now we need a separate exploration into why “book” and “Took” don’t quite sound the same.

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Jessica L Chipps Author's avatar

You just gave me permission to be more Tookish, thank you!

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Jonathan Rogers's avatar

Took away!

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Jennifer Degani's avatar

“You probably don't need to be more bookish. You probably need to be more Tookish.”

I love this quote and I shared it with my husband, who loves Tolkien’s works. He whole heartedly agreed with the sentiment. Now I need to plan or fall into more adventures.

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Jessica Smith Culver's avatar

I just started reading Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, and it seemed a perfect example of this phenomenon. Annie Dillard’s tremendous skill with words must have been learned in her extensive reading, but without the wanderings of wonder at Tinker Creek, there would have been no use for it.

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Kenneth Padgett's avatar

Love this. Tolkien's own life pattern concords with this reality.

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