{"id":1648,"date":"2025-05-12T21:54:31","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T21:54:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/runatroy.com\/?p=1648"},"modified":"2025-05-12T21:56:12","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T21:56:12","slug":"what-the-witch-is-reading-a-writing-break-april-may-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/runatroy.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/12\/what-the-witch-is-reading-a-writing-break-april-may-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"What The Witch Is Reading – A Writing Break -April\/May 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This section of my blog is dedicated to spreading the love of reading and books and the people who make them happen. I would not be the Witch I am today without books. I owe an obscene amount of gratitude to all the makers of books out there. This is my way of giving back. I hope that something I pick up and review will guide you to acquire the next tome on your To Be Read stack. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I have currently been doing a lot of reading. A lot. But it\u2019s not the on-brand for a Witch reading I was doing over the last year where I reviewed the fun, interesting, and often esoteric books. Nope, this reading has been all for research for my current manuscript in progress. I should clarify that I still find this interesting and engaging \u2013 a lot of it in a field I\u2019m sure is going to change so many people\u2019s lives. But the subject matter is hush-hush until public announcements can be made. I will say it\u2019s going to merge science, everyday life, and Witchcraft. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite having read a near Witch\u2019s dozen of books since the last What The Witch Is Reading <\/em>post<\/a>, It hasn\u2019t left a lot of fodder for \u2018reviewable\u2019 content. Posting a WTWIR on all these books would potentially give away the secret too soon. But it did make me want to write a bit about how reading helps our writing skills. Reading is a great writing teacher.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cRead, read, read. Read everything \u2014 trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You\u2019ll absorb it. Then write. If it is good, you\u2019ll find out. If it’s not, throw it out the window,\u201d as famously reported by John Ochwat as a William Faulkner quote. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I have read widely and intentionally as one of the more effective ways for me to become a better writer. Although my studio\u2019s bookshelf is full of mainly esoteric books, the other shelves within my home feature everything from how to turn dirt into soil, writing books, novels in every genre, text books, biographies, poetry volumes \u2013 all of it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s what my daily reading habit (specifically book reading without the screen) has done for me over the years: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Word Nerd Love.<\/strong> Reading builds vocabulary and language skills. As you read you\u2019re exposed to different words and phrases. You unconsciously absorb grammar, syntax, and rhythm. You begin to see ways of improving your own sentence clarity and word choice. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Story Set Up.<\/strong> Reading teaches structure and form. As you read you\u2019re digesting narrative structures, pacing, story arcs, tension through observation, the conventions that each genre uses, and just the sheer vastness of formats from essays, to novels, to one of my favorites: flash fiction. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Cheap Inspiration.<\/strong> It\u2019s rare I\u2019ll be reading a book that doesn\u2019t rev-up  my inner good-idea fairy. Books spark new ideas, themes, perspectives, and melded with your worldview, creates layers of possibilities. Have a writing block? Go to a museum or read new poetry. It unblocks things often in my experience.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. All The Feels.<\/strong> Reading enhances empathy, character development, and where rules are broken successfully. There are innumerable ways to see how different writers grow their characters, pace their stories, and get you \u2013 the reader \u2013 to relate to the text. You read how other writers make you feel something with their writing. That teaches us how we might accomplish the same within our own writing. Making the reader feel something is the whole point of being a writer. Reading allows us to contrast and compare, too, It shows us where the rules we\u2019ve learned \u2013 both via reading or training \u2013 can be broken successfully, which often clicks open a new pathway via point #3 above. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Think Better.<\/strong> Reading encourages critical thinking and reflection. You might notice when a writer isn\u2019t as successful, but noticing when they are on point teaches us as well. You can see how others use voice, tone, and reflective phrases to make the reader pause and think. The more we do this the more we become better self-editors and begin to read like a writer \u2013 like noticing when a writer leans too heavily on adverbs or passive verbs, and then you\u2019re scouring your manuscript to make sure you haven\u2019t fallen for the same foible. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Community.<\/strong> Reading motivates and sustains writers. Being able to talk about books ala clubs or within friendly circles is another way that reading helps us become better writers. Studying the discipline and craft of published writers propels our own craft forward. Reading about the community of writers can illuminate all kinds of tips and tactics. Love a particular writer? There\u2019s a good chance their career is inspiring your own and pushing you to finish that project you\u2019ve been working on for five years. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Reading is not just an enjoyable hobby, it can be a life-long teacher in writing. If you build a regular reading habit, and integrate it as part of your writing goals, things like new vocabulary, alternative structures, character development, and even critiquing others’ works energizes and brings new vigor to the writing process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What are you reading? How did it change your writing? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Creator\u2019s Note: I hope to return to regular What The Witch Is Reading selections very soon. This current Work In Progress is very demanding. \ud83d\ude09<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I have currently been doing a lot of reading. A lot. But it\u2019s not the on-brand for a Witch reading I was doing over the last year where I reviewed the fun, interesting, and often esoteric books. Nope, this reading has been all for research for my current manuscript in progress. I should clarify that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[421,386],"tags":[527,212,436,528,526],"class_list":["post-1648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-what-the-witch-is-reading","category-writing-witch","tag-esoteric","tag-reading","tag-what-the-witch-is-reading","tag-william-faulkner","tag-writing"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/runatroy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/runatroy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/runatroy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runatroy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runatroy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1648"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/runatroy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1650,"href":"https:\/\/runatroy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1648\/revisions\/1650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/runatroy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runatroy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runatroy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}