Reading & Writing

For many years, I was a die-hard mystery reader, about 1 or 2 books a week.  I even ran a book club for mystery lovers.  And, I was a judge for the Arthur Ellis awards and read ~50 books in four months!  Then I turned the hobby into academic study.  Then I began writing the Sasha Jackson mysteries.

I now find it very difficult to read mysteries.  As it is, I don't read much fiction, and when I do, it's less and less common that the book I pick up will be a whodunit. 

If I'm in writing mode, or in the planning stages of a new Sasha Jackson Mystery, then reading a mystery feels like work.  And, whether I'm in writing mode or not, reading fiction is not as relaxing as it once was.  I subconsciously pick it apart, edit and revise it in my head as I read, and wonder why the author said this or wrote that.

I don't seem to be this way (or, at least not nearly as much) with non-fiction.  I imagine that's because I don't write nonfiction (YET!!!) and because the subject matter(s) I read about are so varied that I'm busy learning about the Civil War, or Beer, or Memory rather than internally critiquing it.

Other Authors: how has writing shaped your own reading choices?