- To do good writing, read good writing.
- You are what you read.
- If you want to write well, you have to read well.
I’ve preached some version of these mantras for as long as I’ve published a Friday post on good reads for writers. You can’t expect to practice the craft of writing if you don’t read.
The same goes for blogging — hear me all you 2013 WordCount Blogathon bloggers? The quickest way to up your blogging game is to read other blogs — good one.
What you read isn’t really the issue: blogs, newspapers, magazines, tablet magazines, books, e-books, comic books, business reports, screenplays — as long as it’s well written, you can learn from it.
How Writers (and Bloggers) Should Read
When it comes to reading, however, writers and bloggers shouldn’t be like everyone else. Like everybody else, you read to be informed and entertained. But you also needd to look at:
- Language and work choice
- Sentence length and variety
- How the story, book or blog post is structured
- Vocabulary
- Voice, tone and style
- Dialogue or quotes
- What’s said and what’s left to the imagination
- Drama, intrigue, suspense or other emotions
How do you find good things to read? Put your favorite authors, news organizations or magazines in a Twitter List and look at it every day. Use an app such as Instagram or Pocket to collect stories you see online to read for later. Subscribe to The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Outside, the New York Times or other reliable sources of good reads. Join a book club. Start a book club. Ask your friends for recommendations.
This Week’s Good Reads for Writers
Here are some good reads on writing by writers I happened upon this week:
Lawrence Wright: How I write (The Daily Beast) – Can’t wait to see him in Portland’s Literary Arts author lecture series next fall.
How to write a personal essay that you know will be torn apart in the comments section (New York Times)
Advice for editors: Time is precious, manage it carefully (SteveButtry.com) – His comments are directed at staff editors at newspapers, but they’re just as applicable to freelance editors and writers.
Alexis Madrigal: ‘Follow your own curiosity’ (Medium)
In case you missed it the first time around, here’s a compilation of my picks for best reads of 2012.
[Flickr photo by Nicola since 1972]
Thanks for sharing such a great reminder. When my head gets so in to writing, I sometimes forget to read until the writers block sets in and then I remember! So happy I joined the blogathon! Am learning lots from all the other bloggers. Thank you.
Glad you’re liking it. I have a pile of books to read this summer, can’t wait.
Michelle
How apt! Thanks for sharing. This blogathon is such a big challenge for me but its such a great way to learn as well! I’m so glad to be doing it.
Meg, yes, the Blogathon is a challenge, but it’s meant to be. Hopefully you’ll come out if it with some new habits and a bigger circle of blogging friends.
Michelle
Great post and thanks for the references. I love reading other children’s books, luckily I get to read to my girls. Otherwise I’d run out of time. They love me choosing books for them and they also introduce me to knew ones too!