Filling Up Your Tank - Why Writers Have to Be Readers First (Method Mondays)

    If I'm honest, the past few months I've been in a huge writing rut. I haven't been writing consistently, and when I dedicate time to it, I don't get much, if anything, done. I'd been busy all the time, and in the evenings when I finally had the time to write, I didn't want to. It felt like a chore, and I just didn't feel motivated.
    Recently, though, I started making sure I took the time to read as often as possible. Preferably daily, although that isn't always realistic for my schedule. Once I started doing that, I started feeling that itch to write again. It wasn't something I had to sit down and force myself to do. It was something I found myself making time, and more importantly, wanting to make time to do.
    Don't get me wrong, self-care and relaxation are vitally important. I'm not suggesting you should work an entire day and then come home and write until you pass out. That's not sustainable, and it's not healthy.
    What I am trying to get at, though, is the realization I came to that I wasn't writing if I wasn't reading. It isn't that I'm copying another author's work, far from it. What I'm reading has nothing to do, content-wise, with what I'm currently writing. But if I'm not reading anything, I'm not writing anything either.
    I just want to ask a simple question: who are you writing for? Most likely, you're writing so people will read it. You're writing for readers, and it's likely you're writing for yourself. Toni Morrison's quote sums this up better than I could: "If there is a book you want to read but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it."
    As a writer, if you're reading, you're learning. Even if you don't open a book thinking, "I'd like to look at how this author uses dialogue", you'll absorb it. You learn more by doing it, sure, but you can't start to learn by doing unless you see it done. The Stephen King quote I used at the top of this post describes this well. You really can't be an amazing writer unless you read amazing writers. Just like you wouldn't meet a famous actor who doesn't watch movies or TV to learn from other actors, you wouldn't meet a writer who can't give you the name of at least one other writer who inspired them or made them want to be a writer.
    One of the biggest things I find, for me, is that when I'm not reading I lose the passion to write. I forget why I'm writing, why it's so important to me to put words on a page and someday send them out into the world. If I'm not reading and feeling the emotion that comes with being really moved by a story, then I don't remember why I write: so I can tell a story that moves people.
    No time spent reading is ever wasted. If you've hit a writer's block that you can't push through, sit down and read for a while. Chances are, a switch will flip somewhere in your brain and you'll be able to write again. And if it takes a little longer, well, that's fine too, because now you get to read a great book!