All writers will tell you to write tight or solid when you’re writing material.  Regardless of whether it’s a book, web content, or articles.  You’re building your career and it needs to be the best it can be.  Your lively hood is based on the strength of your writing.

But one area that isn’t touched on as often is reading.  To be a better writer you have to read what others have written.  Look at why their material is published, what makes them good enough to get published?  Reading is just another part of studying the craft.

So what should you be reading?  Everything, anything and again, everything.  Newspapers, reviews, articles, comics, medical papers, science fiction, mainstream, romance, mystery, reference guides, what your competition has written, directories–any written word you can find.

When you read outside of your genre or things you wouldn’t normally read, it often sparks you own creative juices.  It can give you clues on how to write better, how to write tighter.  It will increase your vocabulary and use of words.  For this reason I always have a dictionary handy.  I have a collection of them actually.

And another good tip, the next time you curl up with a good book and your partner asks you why you aren’t working–you can honestly say, “I am.”