Which takes more of your time: Reading? Writing? Do you have a happy balance? How does one affect the other for you?
Good question, I do read much more than I write but I am trying to be brave enough to make it more of a balance. I think it takes a lot of courage to take the risk to put yourself out there and expose your perspective no matter what the subject, and much easier to read some incredible creative stuff.
Interesting. Personally I like reading and have done a lot more of this, but it doesn't fill me with the same thrill as writing. Not that anyone asked me..but I asked anyone so why not..
I write more than I read, though I do read quite a bit. I wish I could read more often but time is always pushing me to do other things which consume me. Reading often keeps my creative edge sharp and I find that my desire to write is stronger.
I read so much more than I write. Like ten to one. Twenty to one in some periods, probably. I haven't been in a very writey mood lately...hopefully that will change over the holidays...
generally, read more. when in school, while i do read significantly more words than i write, but i spend about equal time on the writing as the reading (because i'm really slow... but also because i read 30 books and 40-60 scholarly articles for my 5 25-page papers this semester...) and also, NaNoWri month i write significantly more ... well, i sit in front my computer with Word open...
I probably don't spend much more time reading than I do writing, but I read a lot quicker than I write, so ultimately, I read more than I write.
if it comes to time spent on each, then I think it might be about even. Word count: reading... hands down.
Writing. I'll read when there is a need to research some background facts for my novel or when I want to see how other writers handle certain fiction writing problems.
I read considerably more than I write. Until recently, that is. I am getting a lot more in my head that needs putting to paper so I think the disparity between the two is closing slowly.
Read more than write, and it's always been like that. During term time in particular I tend to spend more of my time immersed reading than I do focused on writing, although I do keep the latter ticking over. Of late ideas have been flowing, though, so we'll see how I progress on those. I have 3 good ideas to get me going over Christmas, so that might tip the balance for a while at least.
I read much more than I write, for good reason. I have no desire whatsoever to balance them, since I do plan to be published some day. . . and I can't learn a whole lot about writing from myself. To "balance" the two, I believe, without fully mastering all essentials--which occurs in your mind, through understanding and not through your fingers--would be a waste of time. I think you would become a much better writer if you wrote only a short piece once per month, but spent most of your free time reading books and grammar guides and browsing helpful sites like this one, than if you wrote every day and made little effort to actually learn anything. My skills have improved astronomically with the method I've developed.
I read more. I want to write more, but it takes so much more concentration, so it is easier to read. I do find reading inspires me to write, especially when I read a particularly bad book as it gives me more confidence. Reading great books can make me feel disheartened though at times.
Kas, This sounds to me that you have found made a concious 'balance' in that you have selected to read more than you write to balance your understanding of one for the other. But good point. Lately, I've written more than I have since leaving school school when I was just sixteen. Now to me reading has been become a different entitity; not only a tool to improve my skills, but I feel closer to the auhthor and look deeper in to the text. I'm glad I asked this question, these insights are most interesting. Mulgan
I get very little pleasure out of reading unless its for the purpose of learning or offering a critique. For that reason, I definitely write more than I read. I read only as an exercise to improve my writing because I simply don't get anything else out of it at this point.
I 100% read more. I rarely write anymore because I procrastinate so much. I'd like to start it back up, but every time I do I tell myself "one more book" and it ends up being something like 12 more books. hahha
If you aren't a big reader of some kind of text, the you can't be a good writer. Period. It's just as important to study the text and become aware of them as it is to produce texts. You can't expect to be a journalist if you don't read the news, for example. I read equally as much as I write, though because of my course, mine is much more structured now. Before I went to Uni, I used to read mainly genre/mainstream fiction and write short stories. Now, I read all kinds and write all kinds.
I definitely read more than I write. I mainly read non-fiction; mainly texts concerning religion, philosophy (metaphysics and virtue-ethics, especially) and psychology. I, sporadically, read fiction, mainly short stories, scripts or poetry. I rarely read fictitious novels, because, (and I'm not sure why), everytime I start one I lose interest in it within the first 100 pages/ shrugs. Haha.
at this point in my life, it's probably even-steven... in my younger years, i read constantly, only wrote when i had to for school, or for the school paper, on which i was the editor and a columnist... wrote only occasionally in my wife/mother decades, read whenever i had a minute to spare... when i was writing for money, starting in my 40s, writing understandably took most of my time and i read only in my 'down' time, or for research purposes... sure, if by 'happy' you mean the obvious, that it works for me, despite what anyone else would say... an odd question... can't tell what you mean by that... reading doesn't affect my writing, other than by doing research for something i'm working on... and writing doesn't affect my reading, other than to make me occasionally have to read something as research...
What I mean by that: Using my answer/opinion as an example; reading and writing aren't independant entities. Since writing more, this has encouraged my reading and influenced the way in which I interpret text. And likewise the signficance i see in what I read is intimate to what I write.
While I can't disprove this, I find it impossible to believe. Every writer, without exception, is influenced by what they read. Style and ability with language are not developed in a vacuum, nor from "practice." Developing a unique personal style is the result of amalgamating the writing styles and practices of the authors you read and admire with your own personal tastes, ideas and experiences. It is for that reason that a successful writer will invariably be a well-read one.
If you have been writing as long as Maia has, reading probably will no longer have any discernable influence on your writing style either. I assume that is what she meant.
yes, it was what i meant, since i used the present tense, as that's how the question was phrased... thanks for clarifying that for me, cog... however, even when i began writing seriously, some decades ago, while my ability to put words together in coherent, grammatical sentences was certainly the result of having been reading since i learned how, as a small child, i can't say that my writing style or 'voice' was influenced by what i read, because i read practically everything and what came out when i wrote was always the 'me' i am when i speak, or think [unless i wanted to write as one of my characters], so was not based on any of the countless authors' voices/styles that i'd read... mulgan... how are they not 'independent entities'?
