If you want to write, read, read, read!

If you want to be a better writer, you’ve got to read. A lot. There’s no shortcut, no clever trick, no secret formula. Reading is where your brain learns rhythm, structure, style, and instinct. All the invisible gears that make a story work.

But here’s the part most people miss: reading alone isn’t enough. You have to think about what you’ve read. You have to chew on it a little.

When you finish a book, don’t just close it and move on to the next one. Sit with it. Ask yourself what worked and what didn’t. Did you love the pacing or the dialogue? Did the ending leave you cold, or did it break your heart in the best way?

Write those thoughts down. Not a full essay, just a few lines. Maybe keep a journal or notebook where you rate what you’ve read, jot down a few favourite lines, note what you’d steal (in the artistic sense) and what you’d avoid.

The act of recording your reactions forces your brain to process them more deeply. You start noticing patterns in your own taste. You realise that the authors you love all do something similar with tone, or tension, or dialogue. You start to see how those things might fit inside your work, too.

Think of it as training your subconscious. Every time you read and reflect, you feed it. You tune your ear for good writing without even realising it. Over time, those small observations start showing up in your own sentences. You make sharper choices. You catch lazy habits. You write better without knowing exactly why.

The more varied your reading, the richer that subconscious becomes. Mix genres. Read outside your comfort zone. If you write sci-fi, read romance. If you write thrillers, read poetry. If you write anything at all, read non-fiction. Every book gives you a new way of seeing.

So yes, read. Read like your writing depends on it, because it does. But don’t just read. Remember.

Keep a record of what moved you, what bored you, what made you jealous of someone else’s skill. That’s the real education. That’s how you turn reading into writing fuel.

If you want an easy way to keep track of it all, grab The Definitive Reading Journal. It’s built for exactly this kind of reflection, helping you capture what you’ve learned from every book you read. No pressure, no rules, just space to think, grow, and watch your writing quietly get better with every page you turn.