Writers: The Amazing Benefits of Reading Regularly
Regular reading makes you a better writer
I have been an avid reader for most of my life.
As a child, I was addicted to reading comic books. My father helped me develop this habit. He used to bring me one comic every week on Friday.
I had new superheroes stories to look forward to every Friday night and this continued for many years. As a kid, I used to be excited to read a new story every weekend, completing the entire comic book in a day or two. And then re-read the entire thing again till the next Friday.
Yeah, childhood was fun.
This reading habit increased when I managed to get an internet connection in my room. This was around the year 2009 when the internet was not readily available in our town. With the internet connection, I had the entire world at my fingertips, I no longer had to wait for Fridays. I was reading new content every day. The Internet was full of people writing new content and my obsession had no bounds.
Making reading a daily habit
The reading habit that I developed helped me stay informed about the world and how society works in general. My interest grew from comics to reading content on startups, entrepreneurship, business, companies, software development, psychology, life, growth and development and so on. I had a new book on my table every second week. But even then I used to read whenever I felt convenient or when I was getting bored. There was no particular routine for it.
I bought all my books from amazon and also kept an active wish list. A book recommended by someone always went on this wish list. But with time I realized my wish list was only getting bigger. I wanted to educate myself more and reading at a snail’s speed was not working out.
I then made a conscious effort in making reading a regular habit every day.
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” — Dr. Seuss
Reading for some people is a big deal, a task that is hard to accomplish. I personally know people who never read books. For me, reading comes naturally and I can always find time for it. I even suggest my friends and family to spend at least 5 hours per week to educate themselves and grow their knowledge.
Being stagnant in this modern age where information is flowing everywhere is not advised, you will fall behind.
This brings me to the second point as to how reading benefits you.
Reading makes your conversation interesting
I have been living with my girlfriend for two years and never before our conversation was so interesting. She being a lawyer is an avid reader herself, we tend to talk about really interesting things. We don’t debate over useless things or bitch about people.
I never saw this coming but I really like it.
In fact, with the new profound knowledge that I acquire by reading, I even started having interesting and engaging conversations with the people around me.
Let me tell you, reading a good book or blog never goes useless. Ever since I have made reading a regular habit I have seen improvements in my writings too. This goes without saying that reading fuels my writing skills.
Reading makes you a better writer
I have been writing for a decade now and reading is undoubtedly the best tool for me. Even though I don’t write every day but I always read. My content consumption is almost thrice as compared to my content production.
As a writer, the more you tend to read the more information you collect. The quality of thoughts and ideas increases as you develop a reading habit. I know this because I have implemented it personally.
Writers often face trouble choosing new topics to write about, reading helps you with this.
Don’t just read for the sake of reading, it serves little to you. Read with the intention of learning. Your knowledge will increase as you read more, you will have diverse topics to write about.
Today, every morning after waking up I always grab a book with my coffee. I prefer books over digital versions in the morning. I tend to avoid staring at a screen early in the day, books are better that way.
The best thing about reading is that you get to know about other people. In fact, you also get to learn from their experiences. This was my first thought when I started reading blogs in 2009, it was amazing.
Medium, in this case, is a gold mine for discovering stories curated by writers worldwide. Once you make reading a habit it slowly changes your life as a writer in a positive manner. Give it a try.
You just read another exciting post from the Book Mechanic: the writer’s source for creating books that work and selling those books once they’re written.
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