Becoming a Better Writer

Through a Simple Yet Transformative Habit

In the same way we become better speakers by listening, better runners by walking, and better leaders by following, the key to improving our writing rests in our reading life.

As soon as I started working in a library I realized how much I didn’t read. Watching my Librarian co-workers return novel after novel and polish off cannons and 1000-pagers after dinner while I skim the op-ed I found on Twitter, was motivation enough for me to set a humble goal of finishing three books in the year. Those three books quickly turned into six, then eight, then ten and before I knew it reading became second nature. I read on my commute, listening to audiobooks on my walk from the bus, began recommending books to friends, calmly finding myself between pages and chapters, and soon finishing off 1000- pagers after dinner myself.

I started to notice that reading silenced me, which I now note as an important characteristic for anyone aspiring to improve.

Reading emphasizes plurality. It’s simple and almost natural to go throughout life contextualizing experiences as singular, specific to ourselves, and siloed. Reading contradicts that. No more important is your story to another’s; they all have depth, complexity, and nuance. Self shrinks as a communal sense of other grows.