Writing to Read and Reading to Write

I’m a Reader 

            When I was setting up my social media accounts for this blog, I had to describe myself in the bio section. Eventually, I came up with, “I’m a reader, becoming an English teacher, and striving to be a writer.” The first part was the easiest. From as early as I can remember I have loved reading or at least being read to. Books have been an integral part of my life. As I mentioned in the "How to Read More" post, I had gotten away from reading, but it’s what I was made to do. Well that and writing.

A Finding

            In fact I’ve noticed something interesting. If I go for a long time without reading anything, then my writing not only becomes garbage, but it becomes increasingly difficult to even write the garbage. It is almost as though my brain needs examples of how to write a good sentence before it can formulate one itself again. I discovered this back in 8^th grade, when my interest in writing first really took off. I was writing thousands of words for these stories that were flying around in my head, but the more I focused on the stories the less I could write. On the other hand, if I took a break from time to time from writing the stories, and read a book or two, when I went back to writing everything went along smoothly again.

Writer’s Block

It’s currently NaNoWriMo and many people are striving to get as many words down on paper as possible. But I’m going to recommend that people engaging in NaNoWriMo still take the time to read every now and then. You can learn a lot from different authors’ writing styles. It seems to help writer’s block as well. I know sometimes you just need to push through writers block, but sometimes I think our brains just have a difficult time generating words. I often find that with myself I get into ruts where I keep using the same words or phrases over and over again. However, if I take time to read a book or two those repetitive tendencies go away for a while and I’m able ot vary the words I use as well as my sentence structure better.

The Reverse

Alright that’s the reading to write. Now here’s the other weird part. Writing to read. For years I have been firmly of the opinion that there is no such thing as too many books. It’s just impossible. It doesn’t exist. It can’t exist. I’m still of that mindset, but sometimes I can’t deny that some moments its easier to read than at others. This might not be the case with everyone, but I think sometimes my brain gets overwhelmed even doing something I ABSOLUTELY LOVE. Whether that’s producing or consuming words. I think there needs to be a balance. So as I need to take a break from writing to read, I also need to take a break from reading to write. While it’s never difficult for me to read, from time to time I have trouble reading as fast as I typically do. Clearly, speed isn’t the goal of reading, but it didn’t feel quite the same. I wasn’t devouring books, I was nibbling at them, as though my appetite wasn’t the same. After I write and I take the time to formulate my own sentences, whether great or crappy, I often find that my appetite for books is renewed. Almost as though the writing exercise has made me starved for some good books to consume.

What about You?

Naturally, these techniques and habits might not be true for everyone, but I’m curious: Do you find the same thing is true for you? How do you get unstuck when you’re stuck in writing? Do you ever get stuck in reading? Let me know in the comments!

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Flying books + Head + Floating Words = my picture