Don't Work on Empty

I know that it’s a fad right now to exercise with either plain water or that fancy pretend sports drink that has no calories. This is pretty stupid most of the time. If you’re not planing to work out hard, OK. That’s fine. If I’m doing 45 minutes at a recovery pace, I don’t use a sports drink or gel. Otherwise, I always, always do. And it’s worth it because you will enjoy exercising more, you will keep at it longer, and you will do it harder, which will burn more calories while you are exercising, and when you are finished exercising. This myth that you work out in a an easy, “fat-burning” zone is silly, mostly because you burn fewer calories and less fat in that zone than if you work out harder and make your body stronger and your heart better than it was before.

Guess what? I’m going to use this as an analogy for writers. If you feel like the well is dry, it probably is. If you are doing NaNoWriMo and you have reached the halfway point and have a sinking sensation that you have nothing left to write, and that you might possibly never have anything to write for the rest of your life, you are running dry. You’re trying to work on empty, and while that might work if all you want to do is produce a few words for your kid’s sixth grade essay, it’s not going to work to help you produce the best work you are capable of producing.

You have to fill up.

Mostly, for writers, this means reading. Not watching TV. Not watching movies. Not listening to music. I think those can be helpful, but I think that nothing lets you see what words can do like other people using words.

So I’m going to tell you that if you want to write a lot, you need to read. A lot. If you’re frustrated by the number of words you write a day, you need to read more words a day. Divide your time for writing in half. Use half for reading, half for writing.

Read books that are in your genre.

Read books that aren’t in your genre.

Read classics.

Read books published in the last two years.

Read books by men. And women.

Read books by people of color.

Read books that have been on your list for a long time that someone recommended to you once.

Re-read book that you loved when you were younger.

Re-read some of your old favorites.

Read a book that you tried and hated before. See if you’ve changed.

I give you permission.

Writing time isn’t just about sitting at the computer and plunking out words. It’s about doing the things necessary to make the work go smoothly.

(Warning: this is not permission for hanging around on the internet, or doing mindless things. Turn off the noise, and open a book. I don’t care if it’s an ebook or a paper book. Read. Yes, you there, who think I don’t mean you. I mean you.)

I am always astonished at how many writers I know who say they don’t read, who don’t want to be “influenced” by other writers. Bullshit. You really believe that crap about anxiety of influence? Look, no one writes in a vacuum. And if they do, it’s crap because it’s not in a language the rest of us share. You’re writing about all the other writers who went before you. You’re writing to all the other authors who are writing right now. You’re stealing everything you write and you’re making is unrecognizable because you mash it all together in a completely new way. That’s what you do. That’s what a writer is. Someone who reads extremely frequently and extremely well. And then produces something in return, to be read.

So go read a book.