Writers need to read for the same reason that football players need to watch film and architects need to tour buildings.
You learn better how to do something by examining how others have done it, both by noticing the good things that experts do and by recognizing the mistakes that make a forward pass or a kitchen layout less than successful.
As a reader, you need to learn to pay attention to your own reactions. As you find yourself engaged by a lead, interested in reading further in an article or essay, think about what in the writing draws you in. How did the writer catch your attention? If you find a well-turned phrase or a clever transition or a clear explanation, dissect it to try to find what lessons it can teach you. Conversely, if you find yourself bored or confused, see if you can locate where exactly the writing falls short, recognizing that sometimes your own lack of knowledge or interest may contribute to the “failure” of this reading experience.We’ll be looking at some readings together in order to see the sorts of things that might catch a reader’s attention.
In this class you will be using a reading journal (as part of your blog) that will help to record these reactions, so that you can remember them and so that you can share what you’ve observed with others (including me!). This should also help to slow you down, to make you pay attention, which is always a good thing for a writer and a thinker.
You will also be reading in this class in order to deepen your knowledge about your theme, to awaken your curiosity, to give you ideas for possible topics to explore and write about. For the most part, ideas do not come to a writer out of thin air, descending magically into the brain of the impatient writer sitting alone in his/her attic studio. Ideas come to writers who get out into the world and pay attention, and an important part of paying attention is reading and listening to what others have to say. So, in addition to noting “writerly moves” you notice in your reading, I’d also like you to use your reading journal as a place to jot down ideas, questions, possible topics you might want to explore further.