In my youther years I was a voracious reader. I pretty much read everything I could get my hands on. I would take out up to seven books from the public library at any given time. It was my guilty pleasure. My ready frenzy definitely got me writing early. I started with song lyrics. They were real amateurish at first then I got better and the lyrics got more sophisticated. Eventually I shifted to poetry and never looked back. Later I got into writing essays and short fiction. I started couple blogs as an outlet for my passion to share on the web. Blogging was awesome. I got to just to express myself freely.
These days I read a lot less. I don’t read physical books anymore. It’s strictly ebooks now and web articles. I use kindle alot. I have gotten into listening too. I use the pocket app to listen to articles I have saved. It has has worked out
pretty good. I call it evolution. Suffice it to say I am still reading albeit in my own way. Will never stop reading
Reading is so important! It helps shape us as human beings (develops empathy) and as writers too.
Have you tried your hand at the freewrite prompt yet? Every day @mariannewest publishes a prompt and we all see what pours out of our brains in five minutes. Here is the link to today's prompt: https://steemit.com/hive-161155/@mariannewest/day-857-5-minute-freewrite-monday-prompt-you-need-help