Reminder: you have to read to write

How I come up with my daily inspiration

Photo by Susan Q Yin on Unsplash

I am often asked, “How do you come up with so many ideas on a daily basis?” The question has always struck me as odd because coming up with ideas has never been my problem. Then I looked at my Medium profile and realized that I have written nearly 1000 different articles in a matter of three years. I guess that is a lot of words written. But for each word I write, I read two or more. Or ten or more. The only way to be a good writer is first to be a good reader.

People who don't like to read and claim to love to write are doing themselves a disservice. Reading is the only way to become a good writer and, indeed, to become a better writer. Studying others’ words is the only way to hone your craft. If you write in a vacuum, you are not doing the best job possible.

Some people say they like listening to podcasts and audiobooks instead of reading, and again I challenge that that is not the same thing. If you do not see the way the words are put together on the page (or screen) and don’t see the punctuation and the grammar, you will lose a valuable part of the written craft.

So I read every single day. I read a lot. I read books and articles. I read analyses and writeups. I read academic papers and amateur blog posts. I voraciously read the news. I…