Words of Wisdom: Read More

I was submitting a story to my chief editor today and as he was reading through it, I was paying attention to his usual stern facial expression for any hint that he would criticize my writing as if I was a toddler learning how to hold a pencil.

'Read more,' he said while he scribbled some notes on the news.

'You need to read more to improve your standard of writing,' he continued before he send me on my way.

From the tone, I don't think he meant that as sarcasm (or my usual dull headedness failed to register it as otherwise) so it did come as quite a surprise to me that he would say something like that.

This advice isn't something that I've heard for the first time. I've been told that one of the easiest ways to improve your writing is to keep writing but reading other people's writing is just as important (and easy).

When I first started on the job, I had plenty of 'free' time (Free, as in, was very incompetent at the job) and it allowed me to pore through the news articles done by my seniors. I tried to learn how they constructed their sentences, how they managed the flow of the text, what keywords that they used to link paragraphs and so on.

I eventually tried to adapt some of their writing style and it helped but I still can't do that daily two page story which they churn out so effortlessly (or at least, they make it seem that way!).

After giving it some thought on reading more, I think it is important to also remember that the quality of what you are reading also matters rather than trying to force yourself to fill your head by the word count.

It's good to expose yourself to various writing styles because each writers' is unique in its own way and it also varies by the format of the text. When reading other people's writing, I try not only to just read through the words but also dissect the things I liked and didn't liked about it as my own and see how it was presented.

Reading more also helps to increase your knowledge about stuff and it's always nice to learn something new. It also helps you to prepare for times when you are suddenly thrust to pursue a story which you absolutely no idea what is it about.

So it was nice to get a reminder from my boss (unless he had other meaner things to say about my writing) and I will try to read more.