Member-only story
Why Writers Need to Read More Often
“It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.”- Oscar Wilde
For many writers, reading and writing are practices that go hand in hand. It makes sense that, to improve in your craft, you need to submerge yourself in literature and learn from the great writers that came before you.
So why do many writers spend most of their time writing?
This isn’t an assumption (at least not entirely). I recently finished reading Mason Currey’s Daily Rituals: How Artists Work, and what I found was surprising. Most — if not all — of the writers mentioned in the book spent most of their productive time writing.
The fact that they spent most of their time writing wasn’t surprising; the fact that reading wasn’t a major part of their productivity ritual was. Was I naïve to think reading was an important part of the writer’s life? I hope not.
In my experience, the only way to create content consistently is to keep reading. To be a constant learner. That’s my main reason for reading, but there are countless reasons for writers to read more often.
