How to Read Like a Writer

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“Reading, done properly, is every bit as tough as writing.” Author Zadie Smith said this in an interview with Daily Good, and it changed my perspective on reading forever. She calls reading a skill and an art, using the vivid analogy of an “amateur musician placing her sheet music on the stand and preparing to play”:

“She must use her own, hard-won, skills to play this piece of music. The greater the skill, the greater the gift she gives the composer and the composer gives her.”

With reading, the reward is equal to the effort you put into it. After years spent expecting books to connect with me, I finally flipped the script and tried instead to find ways to connect with books. Even if I don’t enjoy a particular book, I can respect what it’s trying to achieve and learn from that perspective.

As writers, it’s wonderful to read stories that speak to our experiences, but we must also venture beyond our comfort zones. A varied and challenging reading diet will do wonders for the health of our writing, giving us new…