Writers must read

Reading is an indispensable skill and a requirement for a writer. Reading has the power to transform writing, and extensive reading can perform magic for a writer.

While those statements reflect truths, they are general. Such general statements can be more frustrating than helpful, so I'll give you a personal illustration of the importance of reading to writing.

As a high school English teacher, I was taught that frequent reading improves not only a student's reading but also his or her writing skills. I did not question that assertion because it made sense. (Scientists have undoubtedly conducted studies which show the correlation.) Still, knowing something intellectually is not the same as actually experiencing it. I finally had the chance to see a dramatic demonstration of the relationship between reading and writing when I had children of my own.

I blush to admit that my children's writing abilities were less than stellar. I proofread all my daughter's papers through tenth grade and cringed at the errors and deficiencies. While she made the corrections, neither my efforts nor her teachers' had lasting results, and she continued making the same mistakes.

During the summer between tenth and eleventh grades, my daughter raided my shelves of historical romance books and read a good number of them. This surprised and pleased me because she had never done much voluntary reading before.

In the fall, she began a college prep English course. I braced myself to proofread her first paper, but instead of the usual substandard effort, her writing had improved so much that I wondered if a ghostwriter had typed the paper through her hands. The paper needed little correction. I was too dumbfounded to figure out the reason for the improvement myself, but when I mentioned the miracle to my husband, he blithely said, "Of course. She's been reading all summer."

The light bulb went on!

[FYI: My daughter is now in her eighth year of teaching elementary school; now she gets to do the correcting!]

In brief: If you want to be a writer, read ... read ... read!