The Reading Writer

Why do you read? For pleasure? For school?

What if we switched our mindset to: I am reading to learn? Our writing is strongly impacted by what we read. Books inspire us. Authors we love cause us to want to try to write like them. Plots we think are unique and intrigue us, get our minds thinking about the plots of our books. So, yes, writers almost unknowingly get affected by what they read. But what if we tried to learn about writing through reading? What if you kept a notebook nearby and wrote down quotes and styles we like?

Humans can't make original things. God is the only one who can make something out of nothing. Our writing is, more or less, a mixture of things we learn from other writers. Think about what your writing would look like if you never read any books? Would you even write? Probably not. Books cause us to want to make something like them. It is, more or less, our goal to try to accomplish writing a book as they have done.

Now, if it is true that our reading affects our writing, then it is also true that we need to be very careful with what we read. If we are taking in garbage, then we will be pouring our garbage. From now on, I challenge you to not only try to learn from what you read, but also to only read things that you feel make you a better person and a better writer.

1 Corinthians 10:31 says "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do," (writing) "do it all for the glory of God".