Reading

I rather like this blog post I had on Wordpress, and since it's more relevant to interests here, I will repost it for this blog:

I came across this article:

“Have You Met a Writer Who Doesn’t Read”

 It’s interesting, contains a valid point, but I would have to staunchly disagree. It does not represent absolute truth.

 I have a serious problem with the superior, almost arrogant tone the blogger maintains when judging who is a writer and who should be one. Writers are not definably created out of readers. Writers can be created from non-readers, illiterates.

 Please note, this is not to say that reading isn’t important. Reading helps. Reading is important. For most, reading plays a vital role in writing. But it does not define a writer. What a writer writes, chooses to write defines a writer.

 I like reading. However, with my life as of late, I’ve little time to do so. It’s disappointing. I love books, but I do not have the energy to complete the second half of A Game of Thrones. Or, I should elaborate. I have energy, yes, that I would much prefer to utilize elsewhere. In certain times, dependent entirely on my mood, I will choose to write over reading. When you add it all up, I write more than I read in a week. As a matter of fact, I have not read a book for several weeks. But I’ve written thousands of words. Does that mean, then, by this blogger’s standards, I am not a writer because I did not invest nonexistent time into reading? I think not.

 The concept is not universally applicable. And another thing. I think the blogger mistakenly categorizes reading into a singular group: books. Books are not the only methods of reading. Goodness, no. In a week’s time, I do read, process enormous amounts of information. I read Internet articles, particularly about blogging, publishing, and writing CONSTANTLY. And really, I read articles constantly. Practically, every time I jump on the Internet, I read at least three new articles that pop up on my subscription lists. Does that not count as reading, as well? It may not be a book, but would not reading about writing be just as useful as reading the work of another writer?

 Maybe I’m just snubbed by the whole idea expressed on the post–how dare these children who hardly read want to become writers! What is wrong with them for not reading more!–the sentiment that seems to be shared is that it feels wrong for non-readers to pursue a possible dream in writing. It is not the job of writers to put down aspiring writers because they do not read as many books as they do. Encourage them to read, yes, but do not “dog” those who do not because they are part of this “younger generation” that everyone seems to feel is a generation of unintelligent, uneducated philistines who have the over-inflated ego as everyone else does.

 By the way, just about every writer has a huge ego. Some are better at masking it than others.