The More I Read The More I Write
I made an interesting observation the other day. The more I read, the more writing I get done. I’m not sure what is causing this correlation, but my best guess is that reading and writing stimulate similar areas of the brain – those dealing with the written words.
What I’m reading doesn’t seem to make much of a difference. I’ve been reading sci-fi novels alongside business books and of course plenty of blogs in my various niches. Sure, the “on-topic” stuff gives me more ideas on what to write about, but overall creativity seems to go up no matter what I’m reading.
I’m also finding that the more I write, the easier it gets to get into the flow. Once I’m in “writing mode”, it’s pretty easy to keep going and get larger writing projects finished up (like longer articles and short reports for example).
I am writing a lot more across the board. I’ve been submitting quite a few articles to article directories and I’ve been blogging here more frequently. I’ve also written quite a few guest posts including the ones below:
- How To Build One Way Links for WebCopyResults.com
- Building High Value Backlinks and What Are Backlinks for BigMoneyTinyList.com
I shared last week that I’ve been paying a little more attention to blog commenting and spend a little time each day writing a comment here and there. Not only is it bringing me traffic, it’s also an easy way for me to start my writing for the day. Most of my comments are below 100 words, a pretty easy feat. I don’t end up talking myself out of it because it is too much work. Then once I’ve started writing, it’s easy to open up this blog, or a word document and start on a post or article. Sometimes I’ll expand on something I’ve mentioned in a comment. At other times, I end up writing something completely unrelated.
Which reminds me of another exercise Mark Hendrick’s shared at a recent NAMS event. It was during a workshop session and we were supposed to write something down on paper. Quite a few of us were suffering from writer’s block. Mark suggested to just draw loops on the paper until the words began to flow. It worked amazingly well for every single one of us. I guess sometimes our brains just need a little nudge to get those creative juices flowing.
P.S. I’d love to hear your experience with overcoming writers block. Do you find reading helps you get more writing done?
You may also like to read:
- Read A Book Lately?
- 30 Minute Article Writing System – How To Write And Submit An Article In Under Half An Hour
- Article Writing Tips From Connie Green
- Article Marketing Shortcut – Repurpose It
- How To Come Up With Fresh Blog Post Ideas
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I have also recognized the correlation. I have been taking part in blog challenges for the last two months. The first reason, so I start posting more consistently. The second reason, I make more time to get out there and read other blogs. I have a constant stream of ideas coming in that I can go with at a moment’s notice.
Reading generates ideas and ideas make me want to write :)
I definitely can write more/better when I’m continually reading! Commenting on other blogs as a way to get your writing juices flowing is a great idea! And how interesting (and weird! LOL) Mark’s idea of drawing loops on the paper – isn’t that funny how that worked?
I’m always reading something so I don’t know about that, but I definitely agree that the more I write the more I write. :-)
Last spring I still suffered from a huge writer’s MOUNTAIN. I got over it by persistently doing some cognitive behavioral therapy techniques.
I have done much more im businees related writing lately and I think it has started affecting my “day job” writing. There is barely any threshold left to start writing anymore.
Susanne, what scifi novels have you been reading?
Glad to hear I’m not the only one this works for :)
About a month ago I wrote about how I wanted to become a professional journalist. How I would reach this goal was two-fold: read a lot, and write a lot.
I notice that when I read, I learn new words, new ways of phrasing things, and I just learn more knowledge, period. It definitely helps to make me a better writer!
Good post. I hope to read more from you soon!
Steven
To be honest, reading was one of my major source of ideas. The more I read, the more I learn. And the more I learn the more I can write. :-)
Yep I’ve found that reading helps me write. Whether that be reading other blogs or reading a book entirely unrelated to my work. As you mentioned I guess it just gets the brain working.
I also find it helpful to get myself away from all distractions so I tend to write when I’m out of the house, at the coffee shop or the library.
Susanne,
I certainly feel that reading helps, and sometime reading fiction is the best thing because your mind isn’t ‘trying’ to do work, it is relaxed and ideas start to bubble out of nowhere.
“I’d love to hear your experience with overcoming writers block” – Well, this is certainly a future blog post, but my main way to get my writing into gear is to have brainstorm sessions both for post ideas and for the content of the posts, and that is organized on papers that I keep handy on my desk. Each future post gets a paper with a “brainstorm”, “resources” and “outline” section. Honestly, I rarely use the outline I draw up, I just find the process so useful that I already know what I am going to write when I get down to it.
I write some nature oriented stuff that needs to be well researched and then take good notes, but on my personal blog I tend to mostly use just normal blog/magazine/book reading as a source of inspiration. I even keep bits of paper around even if I am chatting to my little kids – I always want to capture the idea.
Organized like that (and keeping disciplined with keeping it up) makes writers block something I don’t ever have to deal with.
[Sorry that got long - you asked?!??]