Good Writing Means Reading First

Many writers fell in love with reading first.

Books, stories, and characters have an unusual ability to move us, to speak to our hearts and psyches, and to trigger a staggering range of emotions.

Of course, every good story must be written before it can be read, but most writers were reading long before they were bitten by the writing bug.

Reading First

I learned to read when I was just three years old. My mom taught me because she herself was an avid reader, and spent many hours curled up on the couch with a good book. Once I learned to read, I would curl up next to her and together we’d escape the world, lost in our own respective tales.

When I started school, I was surprised that the other kids struggled so much with reading. We’d sit around a big table and each of us would take turns reading aloud. It wasn’t long before I realized that I was leagues ahead of my peers, and I remember feeling a little embarrassed by how easily the words flowed from my lips.

But I was also surprised at how much the other students disliked reading, although it was no wonder - See Spot run - how boring! These kids didn’t know what they were missing out on. I was already reading chapter books by that time, but in class, I read slowly and intentionally tripped over words that I knew quite well so that I wouldn’t stick out or seem odd.

Good Reading Starts with a Bad Habit

During my elementary school years, I often sat in the back of the class, with the other “good kids,” the ones that teachers felt didn’t need much supervision. I’d miss most of the lectures because I was always lost in a book that was hidden in my lap.

Reading during class was a bad habit and more than once I missed something important that the teacher was saying. However, it was a bad habit that gave me some pretty good skills in language and grammar. And I encountered a plethora of amazing writers and stories.

Laura Ingalls Wilder, E.B. White, and C.S. Lewis were among my earliest favorites. Later I gravitated toward Judy Blume, Zilpha Keatley Snyder, and Madeline L’Engle. Every time a Scholastic newsletter was distributed, I couldn’t wait to get home so my mom and I could sit together and check off the books that I wanted to order. And the day they arrived! I remember the Scholastic boxes piled up in the corner of the classroom. Waiting all day for them to be handed out was excruciating. By the time I had walked from my class to the car where my mom sat patiently waiting for me, I would already be pages into one of those treasures!

Reading First, Then Writing

Those were the years when I fell in love with the magic of stories. The people in the books I read were not characters; they were my friends. I shared in their adventures and traveled the world, went back in time, and visited far-off fantasy lands. Every book opened a new doorway that I could step through, and for just a little while, be a part of something fantastic.

So I read voraciously. And the more I read, the more my language and grammar skills improved. I aced reading comprehension and always scored well on writing projects and spelling quizzes. In fact, one year I won the school spelling bee.

By the time I got to junior high, I realized that I wanted to be on the other end of reading, and I started writing poetry, journals, and for the school newspaper. I fared well in all of these endeavors and I give full credit to my mom, who has always encouraged my writing and who taught me reading first.

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