Thanks for your question P. L.! I am happy to see you here, too.

Yes, I think reading is important for an aspiring writer. In fact, being an avid reader in childhood is one of the common characteristics of successful writers that I discovered in my research for TIME TO WRITE. The 104 professional writers I interviewed for my book were all avid readers.

Reading books that are similar to ones you want to write helps you learn the craft of writing because you see how the writer presented the story (or information if it's non-fiction), and you can speculate as you read as to why she put one thing in and left another out. You get to see her choice of words and feel how those words impact you as a reader to get a hint for why the writer used them.

But you've also got to go one step further if you really want to use reading as a way to help you become a better writer-- you've got to study the book. So after you finish reading it, write a one-page synopsis of it. Do profiles on each of the characters and then compare them to see how they compliment/contrast with each other. Identify how the writer used those traits to move the story's plot forward. Write a chapter by chapter outline to get an understanding of how the writer may have developed her story. You can also do this with nonfiction books.

So yes, reading is an important aspect of becoming a writer. There's a writing conference I go to every year, and it's also attended by a particular bestselling author. Whenever I see her, she's off by herself in a corner...reading.

Best regards,
Kelly