The Reading/Writng Connection

 The truth is this: in order to be a writer, even a good writer, you don't need the best grammar and punctuation in the world.

You just need to be better than most, in order to have a good level of "understandability"™ to your writing. Having the best grammar, spelling, and punctuation (and especially syntax) you can possibly have is definitely a good thing, but if it's not effortless for you, if you can achieve understandability, good writing is not outside your grasp.

And it's not difficult to improve immensely on your grammar, spelling, and punctuation. 

The key? Reading. As much and as often as your time and money will allow. In fact, you don't even need that much money, maybe enough to cover occasional late fees at the library. 

Figure out two or three nonfiction topics or two or three types of fiction you'd like to read, and get yourself down to the nearest library. Get a big stack of books. After awhile, you may find reading more pleasurable than watching tv.

A great resource is Open Library, since you're here on the internet, why leave now? Open Library has books that you won't find anywhere else, because a lot of their books are out of print, or have been moved off of library shelves to make room for newer books. Even though you can currently check out most books there for only about an hour at a time, it is still a great place to find something good to read for free, unless you're able to donate, which I highly recommend. You can even create reading "playlists" for yourself there, this website is a lot of fun.

The thing that makes reading so good for your writing is, the more you do it, the more you will begin to recognize what good writing (down to the deets of spelling and grammar) looks like, you'll be able to pick out a writer's individual voice, and discover your own likes and dislikes, and consequently what kind of a writer you'd like to be.

Reading is actually an extremely easy way to improve your writing. The whole time I was in school, I was an abysmally poor student, grade-wise, but because I was also a voracious reader, my best subject was English. Good spelling came naturally to me, and I was my Mother's go-to spelling expert from a young age.

Another thing that will happen when you read more: you'll be able to recognize bad writing, which is actually sort of fun. When you read a book that stinks on ice, you'll be able to say to yourself, "*I* can write better than that!" It may even motivate you to pick up a pen (or a keyboard) and fire off your own book.

If this post motivates you to read more, leave a comment and tell me some of your favorite books, or what your current read is, or some books you saw at the library or bookstore that you want to read next!