IWSG: Being a reader is key to writing

Question for October IWSG: It’s been said that the benefits of becoming a writer who does not read is that all your ideas are new and original. Everything you do is an extension of yourself, instead of a mixture of you and another author. On the other hand, how can you expect other people to want your writing, if you don’t enjoy reading? What are your thoughts?

Above is a sculpture I liked during my recent travels to Phoenix/Mesa, Arizona. Old Scottsdale had a lot of beautiful images forged from steel and imagination. These images are just as encouraging as the reading of other people’s fiction, to an aspiring writer. Large Metal Horse Near Palo Verde Tree. Garden area of Bischoff’s at the Park. Brown Avenue and Main Street.

It’s imperative for me as a writer to read both fiction and non-fiction, for my own personal development as a writer. It’s not about new ideas or getting information for new material. It’s about exercising the part of my brain that likes to write.

Reading good fiction is helpful because it makes me a better writer. I think about and analyze good fiction and find principles that are transferable to my own writing. Non-fiction inspires me from a different angle – it keeps my professional side in the game. We can’t be writers without also being business people. I want to refine both my creative and my analytical sides of my brain.

I also want to support other writers. How can I write if I’m not also reading the genre to which I aspire? I love mysteries/thrillers/cozies. Reading them reminds me of what I hope to achieve, and also keeps me entertained. I grew up reading Victoria Holt, Phyllis A. Whitney, Erma Bombeck, Bailey White and even James Patterson. I love a good story. That’s what keeps me writing as well.

Some of my favorite memories are walking to the library in our neighborhood with my brother, and checking out four or five books to read. I could barely carry them home and I couldn’t wait to begin reading them. What a joy it was to take the time to read in the summer, when I didn’t have school to worry about. Reading for enjoyment has never been the same.

When I first started traveling for work, I used to reward myself with buying a paperback at the airport and reading it during my trip. I don’t do that anymore because my bookshelves are full and I now store books that I’m reading on my iPad and iPhone.

What about you? Do you still read as much as you did before? What inspires you to read, to write, to stay creative?