How to Become a Writer….Read!

“Becoming the reader is the essence of becoming a writer.”
– John O’Hara

O’Hara’s line is one of the tenets of my writing career. If you want to be a freelance writer, then you must be an avid reader too. There are people who make a living out of words even without a degree in Journalism and writing-related degrees. Bloggers for one with most of them are not “formally” trained to write and I am one of them. I hold a degree in History yet I am a published travel writer.

Measuring your effectiveness as a writer depends on the response of your audience..your reader. Just like any artist, your readers can boost your writing career. To know what they want is to be like them..to be a reader.

Reading some blogs or literary works is a  learning process. Each writer has her/his own style and you can learn from them especially if you are starting. If you want to be a blogger ,check out some blogs and follow blogs that you fancy. Notice how they organize their thoughts to how they lay-out their images.

Maybe not a bookworm but I am a reader. My father loves to read and my mother ushered that love for reading. We read all stuff from novels that our grandmother shed a tear to what was scribbled on cartoon boxes.

To read is normal for me. The library was my magical world. One of my best friends in college, Jackie Lou told me that if she can’t find me elsewhere around campus, she just have to go to the library. If I cut classes ( I don’t attend class if I haven’t read in advance), I proceed to the library. Don’t fret, I’m far from a nerdie. Ask my friends..I’m the anti-thesis. haha!

Here is my college library card..Proud that I still have them. I can use them to promote reading to my sons though they love reading now.

I read everything from biographies to ” How to Make your Own Love Potion”. haha. I am proud to have borrowed my university’s old copy of Lord of the Rings which is one of the books that have been made into movies. It was in 2000s and previous borrowers dated way back in 70s.

If you want to write, read. Rekindle your love for reading. I am happy for ibook. I got to read this which is very hard to find

It was far from phenomenal that I wrote for magazines. I love them!

Whatever you like, read them.  From Anne Rice to JK Rowling whose novel made one child actor became one of the Top 10 actors of all time by Famous101.com..indulge.

Let me end this post with inspiration quotes for budding writers

“Read a lot, finding out what kind of writing turns you on, in order to develop a criterion for your own writing. And then trust it—and yourself.”
Rosemary Daniell

“If you would be a writer, first be a reader. Only through the assimilation of ideas, thoughts and philosophies can one begin to focus his own ideas, thoughts and philosophies.”
Allan W. Eckert

How about you, what genre do you like?

More writing tip:

How to Write for Magazines