The Powerful Story newsletter is a space where I offer up free mentoring and advice on various aspects of writing and publishing. I hope it’s a place you can ask questions and connect with a growing community of writers.
As we dive into 2024, I’ve decided we’ll do a monthly theme. We’ll still have a weekly newsletter, but each month will focus on a particular aspect of writing and publishing. January’s theme is the writing life. What does a writing life look like? What habits and practices are a part of it? How can you craft a literary life?
When I launched this Substack a little over a year ago, I just started dropping random wisdom on writing and publishing, editing and career strategy. I’m hoping to be a bit more orderly this year—though I can’t promise that I’ll always manage that.
Over the last year, this community has grown. A huge thank you to all of you who subscribed, left thoughtful comments, and shared the newsletter with friends. I delight in your questions, comments and suggestions. (Feel free to click the button below to share this with a writer friend.)
One aspect of the writing life that’s often ignored: reading. So today, let’s talk about reading. If you aspire to be a writer, you must first be a reader. While many folks aspire to write, according to Pew Research, a quarter of Americans don’t read at all. This study, one should note with absolute horror, was done in early 2021. When we were all stuck at home because of a pandemic. If ever we had time to read, it was then! But the study said 25 percent of Americans many don’t. Even people who say they want to write a book.
Some have said that there are more folks who self-identify as writers than readers—but I don’t know if that’s actually a thing. I do know people don’t read enough, and I also know for sure that the first step to becoming a good writer is reading good books.
We’re just coming off of winter break, at least some of us are. (Some of you are counting the hours until Monday, when your beloved children go back to school. I see you. I’ve been there.) This season is one where I read a lot—the dark days inspire me to sit on the couch with a cup of tea and just get lost in a book. I think I read a half dozen books in December—maybe more.
If you aspire to be a writer, especially a published writer, there are three categories of books you must be reading. (And for those of you who are in the aforementioned group, eager to send your darlings back to school—reading to your children counts. Read good books to your kids—even if they are old enough to read themselves.)
So what should you read? Here are the three bookshelves you should be selecting from:
To become a better writer, read books on writing
I’ve mentioned this before. Go to school on writing by reading books about writing. Three I’d recommend:
Making a literary Life by Carolyn See
The Forest for the Trees by Betsy Lerner
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
What’s the best book on writing you’e read lately? Share in the comments below.
To become a better writer, read books in your genre
Writers explore, learn, question, investigate. We write about what we know, but also what we want to know. (See this past newsletter for more on that.) And all of us can always learn something more about anything, but this is particularly true of writing. You never arrive—for when you imagine you have done so, your writing stagnates, becomes stale and repetitive. Commit to learning your craft, in part by reading.
If you aspire to write a memoir, read good memoir. If you want to write speculative fiction, read that. Get recommendations—visit your local library and ask librarian what they recommend. You will make a friend for life. Read reviews on amazon and Goodreads and read at least one book in the genre you hope to publish in each month.
You may find that you read books that make you say, I could do better than this. Even this sort of discovery is instructive. Think critically: what do you like about this book? What didn’t work or left you dissatisfied as a reader? How would you have done it better or differently?
You may have the opposite response: you discover a book so well-written and moving that you despair of ever writing anything even close to its quality. That’s okay. Let it inspire you to learn more, to practice, to self-edit.
Since I write non-fiction, I read it. I recently finished What an Owl Knows
by Jennifer Ackerman which was a stunning book about, you guessed it, owls. I’m a big nature fan and I found it fascinating in its own right. I was also intrigued by how she made a book about such an obscure topic so highly readable. So I read the book for itself, but also as a case study in how to write non-fiction.
Sometimes you read within your genre to answer the question: what are competing titles? Who else is writing about the topic I want to write about. For example, I am thinking about writing about the “empty nest” stage of life, so I picked up Jill Savage’s book, Empty Nest, Full Life. I was curious to see what other books are out there on this topic and what they have to say.
To become a better writer, read books outside your genre
I write non-fiction. Mostly in the faith-centered space. But I read much more widely. I read novels, memoir, and I love books with a journalistic bent from authors like Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma is one of my favorites) and Malcolm Gladwell (I just re-read his bestseller Outliers which I highly recommend). (These are non-fiction but a very different style than most of my books.)
I also read a lot of fiction. For Christmas, my daughter gave me a copy of Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy which is one of the best books I’ve read in a while. I devoured it in a few days. It’s a novel about reintroduction of wolves into wild spaces—but also a fascinating story full of twists and turns and absolutely artfully crafted characters. So it’s a fictional story about real situations. An amazingly crafted story, luminous prose, and a fascinating topic (again—I’m kind of itno the nature themes) made it one of my favorites. I wasn’t surprised that it is a New York Times bestseller.
The writing life is a reading life
So, there you have it: writers read. The writing life is a reading life. You may be asking, how will I have time to write if I’m always reading?
One does not find time. One makes time. I find it best to write in the morning and read in the evening.
You may have to put down your phone or turn off the television. You’re already consuming content, you just have to redirect your attention from the screen to the page, and you’ll find time, believe me. Stop scrolling (I’m talking to myself here) and start turning pages.
What books have you read lately and what have you learned from them?
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