To Write You Must Read

Like many writers, I follow several public writing pages on FaceBook, whether for inspiration, to follow trends, or hoping to learn some new hints to help my writing. Sometimes I take a deep breath and dive into the comment section.

The comment section of public pages on FB can be daunting. I am always amazed at how often a simple post will initiate a spiral of fighting, unrelated discussions, misunderstandings, and sometimes pure insanity spouted in barely readable text. Yet, on occasion, I will step into that chaos to read what may come.

On most writing pages there is the steady posting of advice memes. To be a better writer you must read often. Totally agree. I agree so much that I often wonder why it even needs to be said. Writing is an obsession. Reading is the first obsession that leads to the writing obsession.

Yet there are always people who argue against reading to improve writing skills. There are often quite a few "I don't have time to read." and even the "I don't want to influence my own writing style." comments.

There's an annual marathon in town, in the spring. This year a college student ran the marathon without training for it first.

He had signed up then procrastinated on training. Young and daring, he decided that he'd run it anyway. He managed to finish the course. He started out confident and strong then ended up walking a good chunk of the 26 miles. He even managed to finish, back at the tail end with other stragglers.

The impact struck the next day. You see, the training was not about hoping to win a marathon. The training is about preparing your body to run a marathon.

Every muscle in his body ached. He could not walk for three days. He could barely stand up from a seated position. These are the lessons we learn in life. Sometimes there's a reason why whole groups of people do things a certain way and continue to follow that methodology. The young man learned a lesson that he will never forget.

Reading is building muscles. People forget that the brain is a muscle because it's hidden away beneath a skull and often a thick layer of hair. There it sits, either in good shape from lots of exercise and conditioning or deteriorating from lack of use.

Not only does reading build your skill set and keep your brain in shape but the simple fact that someone doesn't want to bother reading others' work makes me wonder why they think someone will want to read their work then.

There have been times when I've had three books going at once, one for the living room, one up in the bedroom for a nightcap, and one in the bathroom. As a kid I was a strong reader, pouring over every book I could get my hands on. As an adult I always made time to read, even if it was only an hour each day. I still read as often as I can.

So to those who think reading is not important to writing, good luck with that.