Reading – And Learning, As A Writer, Old And New

Only those who fall in love with writing will succeed in becoming good at it. Writing is best if it’s love at first sight! But that love can be learned. That is based on my experience of 50 years.

I learned to blog sometime in 2006 (“The American Frank,” wordpress.com; it looks like I began blogging March 2006, or 19 years ago yet – self-taught, I must point out, including creating/inserting an image).

I am 85 years old. I learned to write (and edit) all by myself when I was yet in college in the 1960s. I graduated with a BS Agriculture major in Ag Edu in 1965. I did not write for pay until 1974, when I became a copywriter of Pacifica Publicity Bureau. With the Pacifica experience, I became more creative.

Starting 1975, I founded and became The Editor In Chief of the 3 publications of the Forest Research Institute: monthly newsletter Canopy, quarterly technical journal Sylvatrop, and quarterly color magazine Habitat. I founded all 3 out of the blue; that’s how creative I was already 50 years ago!

Those thoughts occur to me as I read Facebook Writers’ June 4 sharing “Reading As A Writer” (above image) where these questions are asked:

·      How do you read as a writer?

·      Why do writers have to read?

·      What are some of the methods that writers use when reading for their craft?

·      How much do I need to read for different purposes?

I read to know more, explore more, learn more, to be sure, to correct myself if necessary.

And you? Reading as a student, as a fan, as a knower, as a believer, as a writer:

(1) To know more about something you already know.

(2) To know what you don’t know about.

(3) To learn new things.

(4) To verify old or new ideas.

(5) To wisen up/down.

(6) To keep yourself up-to-date.

(7) To add knowledge or learning so that you don’t have to junk your current position on something or other.

“How do you read as a writer?” Any which way, I read to find out, to think.

“Why do writers have to read?” They don’t know everything.

“What are some of the methods that writers use when reading for their craft?” Compare, contrast, differentiate, isolate, emphasize, empathize, de-emphasize, rework their work. More!

Oh yes, I always read before, during and even after I write (the first draft).

I don’t have to be perfect – but I have to be perfectly satisfactory!

As a writer, I read to add to what I already know, or have expressed in different terms – to be in tune with the times, if not fresh.

As a writer, I read to encourage myself to think more! There are times that I run out of ideas, so I run after them by reading, today browsing the Internet at any time of day or night.

I read to encourage myself to write, and/or write more interestingly by adding some old or new ideas. I quit only when I feel happy with my rewrite.@517