WRITERS' LODGE 32: Reading as a Writer

Do all writers have to read? What should we be reading?

Hi friends!

In This Issue:

• Reading Like a Writer

  • Do writers have to be readers too?

  • What to read

• Meetings

  • Book a 1:1 with me - you set the agenda!

• Coaching

  • A new offering for all the aspiring writers out there

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Reading Like a Writer

Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

The other day, as Will Carver and I were recording our podcast, Let’s Get Lit, talk turned to reading. Will said something like ‘They say you need to read lots to be a good writer’ but added that he disagreed. ‘Reading lots makes you a good reader,’ he said. ‘Writing lots is what will make you a good writer.’

I think I replied with something along the lines of, ‘Yes, but every good writer has at least been a prolific reader in the past, even if they no longer read that much.’ But the conversation got me thinking. Do you need to read loads in order to write well? What should we read as writers?

Let’s dive into that here.

Do writers have to be readers too?

Generally it’s accepted that writers must read prolifically too. Jeanette Winterson has said ‘…there are no writers who are not readers’ and according to Stephen King ‘If you don't have the time to read, you don't have the time or the tools to write.’

But are they right? And if not, why is that opinion so commonly held?