Two blog posts in one day? What? Oh, the insanity! I felt the need to add a post in regards to writing in order to balance out the post about reading. In fact, the two are connected.

Here's the deal: I spend a lot of my time reading blogs and Twitter feeds of various authors. I have read at least one thing by all of these authors I follow, and I enjoyed their stories, which is why I decided to follow them. And most of these authors offer occasional bits of advice about writing. Writing advice is another reason why I follow them.

Do you want to know the number one piece of advice I've read? Every single author I follow that has offered advice on being an author has mentioned this one piece of advice at least once. In a way, this particular nugget of wisdom should be self explanatory, and yet there are so many out there who don't think they need to do it. Simply put, it's this: To be a good writer, you have to first be a good reader.

Like I said, it's pretty self explanatory to me. I am a voracious reader. I usually have at least two books going at once. I've even taken to listening to audiobooks while I'm working (please, don't tell my boss). By reading everything I can get my hands on, I expose myself to a variety of writing styles. It takes a lot of practice to be a good writer, and it takes a lot of exposure to the written word.

And so, in addition to writing when I can, I read everything I can, and here I will be posting reviews of what I read. See? It all fits together.