The standard advice I give to people young and old who want to be authors is to read as much as you can and write as much as you can. It sounds trite, but really, it is the most important way to improve your skills.
What amazes (and saddens) me is how seldom I follow my own advice. School visits, the business side of publishing, day-to-day chores swallow my time, and weeks (or months) go by without me having written anything new (other than my daily journal entries). How often do I need to remind myself to write, write, write? And read, read, read? Obviously, I have to remind myself of this a lot.
7 comments:
The business of being an author is extremely time consuming! Your advice to read, read, read and write, write, write is exactly right. Perhaps it is time to make a new day that lasts 29 hours instead of 24?
That's something you should share with students during school visits as well. The only way to be a better reader - and reading is necessary for all areas of life! - is to read more. One thing I've often considered is how many books we read each week. In our family, we try to each read one book a week. Imagine the possibilities if children did that...and adults, too.
Both reading and writing make time seem longer and fuller. Maybe that's how we can each get those 29 hours Lauren's suggesting...
I always tell young writers that exact thing. I used to think I should be writing instead of reading, but I realized I glean something about writing from every book I read. So I'm on my third library book of the weekend: Freedom by Jonathan Franzen. He has a sentence that is almost 300 words long. I don't think I'll try that anytime soon...
Good advice, David. I think all good writers were good readers first.
Two fundamentals that sound easy but seem to need reiterating, for all of us. Thanks for the reminder, David!
It can be rather depressing that the "business" side cuts into the "creative" side so much. I am also resolving to draw and write more this year, starting with my sketch-a-day journal. It's surprisingly calming.
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