[caption id="attachment_609" align="alignright" width="179"] Reading or writing?[/caption]

By Nimue Brown

Recently, I was browsing through a twitter hastag (#wwwblogs – women writers, on a Wednesday) when I ran into this excellent piece - In a World of Too Many Writers, Readers Matter Most. I read it. When I’m participating in a hashtag conversation I tend to read and share at least a couple of things. Otherwise, what’s the point? If all we do is write and throw our words out there, for no one to read, it’s all a bit of an empty ego trip that achieves nothing.

I was a reader before I was a writer. As a percentage of my day, I am a reader for more time than I am a writer. Writing is often portrayed as the glamorous bit, but there are more reliable satisfactions to be had as a reader.

When you read, you know you are engaging, and if you comment back, you know someone cares what you thought. If you’re reading this, it is going to be pretty obvious to you that you’ve engaged with my ideas. As I sit here and type this, I have no way of knowing if anyone at all will read it. If you read and do not comment, I’ll never know you were here.

I’ve written whole novels no one will ever read. This is not unusual for authors – first novels often end up hidden in drawers, and with good reason. I have a novel I couldn’t finish as well. The average book sells 3000 copies, many sell barely at all. Many of us who would write will go unread. But as a reader, my role is certain. As a reader, I can have all the things, and I get a lot out of it. As a reader I fret less, experience no anxiety about what anyone else will think of me, and I feel free to quit on anything I don’t like.

Writing can be like shouting into an empty room.

Reading is never like that.

In a world of too many writers, readers matter most. I hope you read it, it’s a very good post about information overload and meaningful participation. I firmly believe that anyone who wants to write, should write, but if that’s going to work, we all need to spend a lot of time being readers as well.

Also, readers make better authors. It’s a simple truth, but you learn so much about writing by reading other people. Writers who don’t read don’t know what they’re doing – can’t know. If you don’t understand the other side of the experience, don’t know what others are writing or how, it’s very hard to participate. Writers who are part of a conversation are more attractive. Let’s face it, if you go to a party, you’re going to move towards groups of people who are talking to each other, not the person stood entirely alone shouting a monologue.

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