Old, and New.

In his book Foundation, Asimov writes about a scientist who does science purely on the basis of reading and interpreting other scientists work. This, of course, can never work, a scientist will have to do some of the experiments, the low level footwork, for himself. Although of course I certainly see that a scientist will have to be well–read to be good in his field.
In the same way, although I would agree that authors should be prolific readers, I don’t think we should spend our whole lives lived in books. This will force our books to be mash-ups of all the books we have read, for it will be our only point of reference.
Rather, we should have overly active lives, experience things for ourselves. Have a greater social life than other people, go on adventures and see the world for ourselves. In this way, we can bring to the world of literacy our own new experiences, fresh from the real world. And in venturing out into the real world to find adventure, we might also learn to be more adventurous in our writing.