Writers need to read.

No, let me back up.

Good writers need to read.

Lousy writers can keep on not reading and keep on sucking at telling stories. It’s an incredibly lucrative approach to publishing, turns out.

But as someone who identifies as a perfectly okay writer and hopes to one day be a good writer, I knew I needed to get my ass in gear.

It all started at the end of 2015 when I realized that I’d only read something like 8 books that entire year. Then I multiplied that by the number...