Keith Brazil

There are 2 answers to this:
First, the thrill of starting a new writing/artistic journey and trying to capture the essence of what it is that you wish to express. The sense of adventure as the characters, plot, principle idea or guiding emotion step forward to be listened to and the pieces of the puzzle (in any order!) start to arrive and the picture begins to reveal itself.
Secondly, after all the crafting/revising/editing processes are complete, bringing all the elements together into the final book with its enwrapping cover design. There is something very rewarding in seeing your words bound together and ready to send off into the world as a finished product.

I don't really read now (other than non-fiction for research - Raj Patel is great for current analysis on world global issues and food justice) but in the past I enjoyed reading poetry (all kinds - but John Donne, Andrew Marvell, Rabbie Burns, the Romantics, E.E. Cummings, T.S. Eliot, Stevie Smith, Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath, spring to mind as being so innovative), I was a big fan of the English 18th Century novel (groundbreaking and some of the very best books were written then), Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde of course. I was really moved/impressed with Virginia Woolf and James Joyce (both revolutionary in terms of consciousness - life changing events). I enjoyed the writing of Truman Capote and Carson McCullers. I loved Jane Austin and the Brontes, a big fan of Tolkien and C.S Lewis. I am pulled to other cultures and esoteric/philosophy (the poetry of Rumi, the book The Secret Teachings of Mary Magdalene is incredibly beautiful, moving and heart expanding, Meher Baba, Mother Meera, Jane Roberts - Seth books, Alice Bailey, Madame Blavatsky, Tibetan tracts, and good books on the Tarot). I loved Plato & Andre Gide. On the fun side I enjoyed E S Gardener (Perry Mason) and Michael Innes (John Appleby). I love all kinds of fairy tales and children's books - Brothers Grimm, Lewis Caroll springs to mind, also P. L.Travers, Carlo Collidi etc (basically, any cartoon film classic you loved, go back and read the original books). I really enjoyed His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman and the Harry Potter books too. Phew!