Secret #1

I actually really liked secret #1 because it made me think of reading in an entirely different way.  I have never been a big reader.  I have probably read less than 5 novels in my entire life.  I have always thought "what's the point of reading fake stories?"  If or when I read it is always nonfiction and it is to learn something.  It is to take in new information but never for enjoyment.  

The book says "Whether you know it or not, you are learning language along with whatever else you are reading.  You are learning vocabulary and syntax, words and how they are put together.  You are learning how language flows (or doesn't)."  It goes on to say "Imagine wanting to be a musician and not listening to music.  That's odd and wrongheaded as aspiring to be a writer and not reading."  

That last part really drove the point home for me.  I have been playing the drums for 15 years and the guitar for about 5 years.  I have never taken music lessons.  I taught myself the drums by listening to Weezer's Blue Album and Metallica's Black Album.  I could have never learned timing or drum fills if I didn't spend hours upon hours listening to music and practicing.  I would hear a drum beat in a song that I really liked and then I would practice it until I got it.  Eventually after enough practice it became part of my own style and influenced the type of playing I would do with my own bands.  The same goes for the guitar.  I learned how to write a song and song structures in general by listening to music.  I could have never learned those instruments without listening to other people playing them.  

Now I can see exactly how reading could do the same for my writing.  As you read you can pick out different types of writing styles and then incorporate that style into your own writing.  Just like listening to music can teach you about song structure reading books and articles can teach you about sentence structure.  After looking at reading from a different perspective I will never again say that reading is a waste of time.