Writers Must (NOT) Read.

tyunglebower ♦ March 28, 2016 ♦ Leave a comment

Okay, that title is sensationalism at work. Of course writers must read. Most of the time. And I do.

Among the single novel I try to always have going, and the single non-fiction book I have going at the same time, any given moment I’m also reading short fictions, poems, and articles and or blog posts from fellow bloggers.

Many of those posts are about writing. I subscribe to the feeds of several writers’s websites. Some posts I find via Twitter as well. Writing is a lifelong process, after all-a craft that is never truly mastered about which every honest sincere writer is always learning.

Yet just as some people take social media breaks, I’m considering an advice break.

There is great writing advice out there, but direct and indirect. Many sources from fellow author’s offer a great deal to their colleagues. I myself try to do this here on my blog on a regular basis. O hope some things I’ve said here have helped at least some of you some of the time.

Yet, reading about writing isn’t the same thing as actually writing. Reading about the art of writing, the marketing, the lives of words of successful authors is often an unconscious stalling tactic. Would-be writers spend all of their time reading about the writing life, and almost none living it.

This isn’t me, by the way. I continue to make steady progress on my writing goals, such as my upcoming mystery novel, this blog, and my freelance work. Not to mention private practice and journaling and such. I’ve not neglected my actual writing. Still, I sometimes wonder if I don’t need a break from all of the advice, the shared stories, the observations from other writers at different stages of success. Mightn’t the time I use making my way through my feed be better spend creating even more writing?

The answer is “perhaps.” I maintain that writer websites and articles therein are not only fun, but valuable resources of knowledge and guidance. But I don’t want to push it.

So, just to do an “advice cleanse” if you will, and dive more into what i already know and have already discovered as I write, I won’t be reading my writing related blog feed again until the end of April. Not on purpose, anyway. I’m sure I’ll slip up here and there, but I’ve announced my intention.

I will spend the time I would have spent reading on writing, of course, but also submitting. I’m behind on that as well, as per my own stated goals.

So, I’m off to read my feed for today, and begin my advice-free April. (Plus a few days in March.)

I’ll keep you posted on how it feels to isolate myself in this manner.