Authors read, perhaps more than the average person. It is their craft, after all. My grade 10 English teacher was a hilarious man who went by the name of Mr. Hillman. When the mood took him, he would engage in a 1-person banter while the class snickered.

From him I learned that book series like The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew have a set vocabulary from which the authors draw, and 90% of the same words appear in book after book. So after reading 3 or 4 books in a series, you will cease to expand your vocabulary except for a sprinkling of words related to the specific mystery/adventure at hand. For instance, if the story relates to aviation, you might learn 5 new words dealing with flight. If it is a nautical adventure, you'll be learning about sea vocabulary and so on. My teacher was quite serious when he shared this. This wasn't one of his jokes.

But he did joke about what we would do when we left high school. He pointed out that by grade 10 we had gained most of the vocabulary we would use in our lifetime. The only new vocabulary would be related to our field of study or our future career. For instance, a doctor would make use of this vocabulary: arm, leg.

As a professed writer, my vocabulary has definitely expanded since grade 10 which was quite eons ago. My interest in books never waned, but it did alter course. As a child, I couldn't absorb enough fairytales. I would sit and read them by the hour, devouring book after book, and refusing to go out and play.

All throughout adolescence fiction was my big interest. Mysteries, mostly. And then around the age of 25 I sort of veered off course and found a marked fascination with non-fiction: How the world works, what makes us tick, how altering your thinking can alter your life, and other philosophical musings on life.

And now I've got a toddler at home. Unfortunately because of her older siblings she's gotten a head start on the iPad, TV, and other electronic gadgetry. But when I can persuade her to sit for a book, it's lovely.

We read books from In the Night Garden.

And we've got noisy books: Peppa Pig and Dora. With Dora, I don't even have to read a word. Just press a button for each page!

When you've got a young child at home, life slows down again. You put your projects on hold, or at least on slow motion.

You smell the roses. You play in parks. You read books. It's a good break. :) I will enjoy it while she lets me.