Obviously, I spend a lot of my day reading. But yesterday I had the opportunity to do one of my favorite things as part of my job: talking to writers. I am a co-leader on one of our reading committees at work. We read a bunch of books that are submitted to the group and choose a shortlist of our faves. Once a season, we get the chance to discuss these books with the winning authors.
The panels are always incredibly interesting. I’ve been able to talk to so many writers about craft and process. And I thought it would be nice to share a few of the insights I’ve gotten over the past while. These aren’t about writing itself, but about being a Writer.
Reading is a Conversation
More than once, authors have said that they write a book, but what they wrote isn’t always what people read. It has taken me a long time to internalize this but it’s so true. The process of reading isn’t just ingesting the words on the page. The book is the medium, and the reader channels the story through your words and into their mind.
Each reader’s experience and bias and knowledge form the story, which means everyone has a slightly different version they carry with them. Usually, the version in your head isn’t quite what’s on the page, either! I love the fluidity this philosophy brings to a book. My job as an editor is to make the story as clear as possible, of course. But making it super clear to me, or to the author, doesn’t always make it as clear to all readers.
Get Out of Your Head
Probably the most common sentiment I hear is that writing is a solitary pursuit and that can be alienating. Every writer seems to have a different way of handling this, but there are some common practices.
- Go outside. If you’re stuck on a project, walk away, go for a hike, take a bath, see a movie. Anything that can get your wheels turning without sitting at your desk is helpful. So many writers tell me they find the way to break into their story when they’re not actively trying to write it.
- Find writer friends. Get people in your life who will celebrate your wins and commiserate about your struggles. In private. Yes, the dopamine hit of posting on socials when things are bad can be briefly uplifting. But it’s usually better to keep your venting to a few close friends who have been where you are or can offer new perspectives than risk a meltdown online.
- Write, revise, and read aloud. So many writers I have spoken with say that part of their process involves reading their work out loud. Once they get it on the page and have done a pass or two of editing, they will read the chapter or the page or the whole manuscript. It’s a great way to check for flow, because if you’re stumbling over phrasing, readers might as well. One author said he goes one step further and reads out loud into a recording device, and he’ll do even more editing after hearing himself tell the story.
Read widely.
It’s very likely that you want to read books in your preferred genre, and that’s a good thing. It’s great to know what your own writing is in conversation with and where it fits on the shelf. But pretty much every writer I’ve spoken with talks about feeding their curiosity by reading outside of their comfort zone. If you love literary fiction, you may find a thriller helps you work on exposition. If you’re a horror enthusiast, reading romance can help you understand other ways to ramp up tension. The more you read, the more you expand your knowledge and experience. That knowledge can only help you in your writing practice.
In case you were wondering, the three authors I spoke with yesterday are fantastic and I will plug their upcoming books here:
- Bobuq Sayed, No God But Us (May 2026)
- Thao Thai, The Seekers of Deer Creek (August 2026)
- Walter Mosley, Ghalen: A Romance in Black (May 2026)
What I’m Reading/Watching/Crafting:
- Finished Jeff Noon’s Creeping Jenny (weird folk horror noir that I liked) and am immersed in Joe Hill’s King Sorrow because I’m going to hear him talk next week.
- Watching The Lowdown and really enjoying this kind of shaggy dog mystery with Ethan Hawke. I also saw Frankenstein on the big screen. I was already a Del Toro fan, but this movie ratcheted up my enjoyment of his work significantly. Just a beautiful piece of craft.
- I’m reknitting a sweater that was too short, and steeling myself to finally cut out the winter coat that has been languishing for two (two!) years.