WWN16: The Bookshelf Paradox

Last week I bought a bookcase.

Well, I bought it a week before but it arrived last week.

All 6 foot and 6 inches of glorious Swedish flatpack, which is now assembled and built…

…and filled. Or thereabouts.

Which got me thinking.

There is a curious paradox of bookshelves which I shall explain in a moment.

But first let me just flag up that Wade and I are running round two of the Ghostletter Seminars at the start of September.

And rather than pitch you, I’m just going to let two of our beta testers do that:

(Props to Jacob for using the correct “complementary” instead of “complimentary”.)

So if learning to build a “Writing As A Service” business is something you’re interested in?

Tap the button below. No obligation, but we already have fifty people on the waitlist, so if you’re not on it there’s no guarantee you ever hear about it again.

But about that paradox.

There was a reason I bought that bookcase. Namely, there were five stacks of books on the floor, all coming to waist height. And there was one bookcase in the bedroom that was not single stacked, nor double stacked, but triple stacked.

(And with some on top of the neatly ranked books as well.)

And so I built me a bookcase.

For those counting, that brings it to two in the bedroom, five in the dining room, three and a half in the office, and a dozen boxes in the eaves. And a shelf or two in the kids’ room.

Writers read, guys. Writers read.

But there’s a problem!

Because there’s an empty shelf in the bookcase.

A biiiiiiiiig gap where books should go…

And it looks odd…

And I’m thinking, there are a dozen books on my Amazon wishlist…

And I haven’t been to my favourite second hand shops in a while…

And a few people were recommending books lately on X-Twitter…

…and…

…before you know it, it’ll be full. And then I’ll start thinking “huh, the bookshelves are a bit full, should I?”

The cycle repeats!

So this, then is the bookshelf paradox:

Whenever you have empty space on your shelves, you buy books to fill them, and yet when you buy more books you create a need for more shelving.

As shelving never comes in “one book” sizes, there’s always a mismatch, which creates pressure one way or the other. Either for more shelves, or more books to fill them.

This is an endless cycle.

Is there a solution? I don’t know.

Do I want one? I don’t think so…

After all, I love books.

So I’m quite happy careening from too many books to too much shelf space and back.

But what does this have to do with writing, dear reader?

Simples.

As I mentioned above, writers read. I’ve talked about that one before in the Write Way Course, though I might revisit it again.

But…

…writers also own books.

Real books. Unread books. Reference books. Might-never-read-it books. Useful-to-flick-through books. Inspirational books. Pretty books. Old books. New books. Friends’ books. And more.

You need to surround yourself with books.

(Standing in my writing cabin, at this moment, there is an entire set of the Encyclopedia Britannica 1768 edition to my right. Behind me are stacks of dictionaries, marketing books, Terry Pratchett novels and fairy tales. On the other side of the bookcase are pulp crime novels and poetry collections.)

Why?

After all, idiot Content Creatooooors will tell you that “what matters is the information” not the physical book.

Or even worse, “what matters is that you act on the book” and BS like “better to read one book and act on it than ten and not do anything.”

And that’s true, in a sense.

If you’re a lazy content creatooooor reading dumb business books for inspiration.

But if you’re a real writer?

You oughta know better!

Thing is, an unread book is more valuable than a read one.

(And I include there anything worth re-reading.)

These business books gurus buy are only worth flicking through once, making a couple notes, and then you’ve learned from it. It’s a waste of space - go and act.

But real books?

Classic literature, great biographies, fantastical novels, beautiful poetry, helpful references.

All of those are worlds waiting to be explored.

Journeys waiting to be taken.

If I turn around right now, I can be in Elfland in a moment. Or Arrakis.

On second thoughts, let’s look up bookcases in the encyclopedia.

Did you know that books used to be kept in small cases (coffers)? Then as they multiplied, they started to be kept in shelved cupboards, stacked on top of each other. Over time the doors were left off and the modern bookcase arose.

Then as books became cheaper, and the title printed on the spine, they were ranged outwards in the modern fashion.

Could I have googled that?

Perhaps.

But what would have happened?

Well, for one, eighty percent of it would be shops selling bookcases. So then I’d have to sigh and pick something more specific like “history of bookcases”. Then eighty percent of that would be lowest common denominator SEO driven content which would also be selling me something.

Meanwhile, I’d be on the internet and I’d think “I’ll just check X-Twitter for a moment” and an hour later I’d be back at this newsletter with nothing new to say about it.

But more importantly?

You miss out on Serendipity.

As I mentioned way back in WWN5: Thirty-Two Writing Rules:

And indeed, that day I wrote my daily Carran’s Cabin email from the act of flicking through the dictionary looking for serendipity.

Yes, I could have googled "serendipity" just like I could have googled “bookcase” and saved myself some time.

But if I'd done that I'd never have have glanced down at serfdom, up at sepulcher, never have considered that sequoia is quite a funny sounding word.

Today, looking at bookcases in the encyclopedia I’d have missed an interesting digression into bookbinding that I stumbled on, on the way. A digression that’s given me another idea to add to the list. Nor would I have been learning about famous bookplates and deciding I need to get one made, perhaps with the P3 Magazine logo on it.

But all that is by way of illustration.

Your journey will be different, every time you pick up one of those unread books, those packages of potentiality lying bound on your shelves.

And that’s the point.

Unlike the internet, designed to funnel everyone into the same consumerist box, down the same-old pathways, into the same-old safe opinions, books are limitless.

Try it.

Fill a bookshelf.

Then get another one.

Repeat.

And grow.

And until next time, may your pipe be as full and fiery as the books on your shelves.

Yours,

James Carran, Craftsman Writer

fin.

Today’s Craftsman’s corner had to be recommendations for your bookshelves.

So, I walked around my house and looked at all my shelves and below are seven recommendations for books to read to improve your writing that jumped out at me as I went.

Not the usual ones either, I’m not saying they’re all sleeper hits, some are pretty famous. But almost none will be on any “books to read about writing” lists and they’ve all impacted me a lot.

Call them the secret sauce.

Exclusive to current subscribers: