People often ask writers, “How do you get better?” expecting a list of writing exercises, craft books, or productivity hacks. Those could help, but the simplest and most transformative answer has always been this: writers gotta read.

Reading isn’t just inspiration—it’s immersion. Every story, essay, and paragraph we read becomes a quiet lesson in structure, rhythm, voice, and humanity. When I’m reading well, I’m writing well. When I’m not, my sentences start to lose their texture and my ideas flatten out. The more I read, the more possibilities I see on the page. The more I read, the more I want to create.

Sometimes reading is less about learning and more about remembering why we fell in love with words in the first place. It’s the spark that reminds us that words still matter, that stories can still move us. When I’m burned out or unsure of my voice, I go back to reading—not to escape writing, but to return to it with gratitude.

So yes, writers, it's okay to take a break and read. Not because it’s a rule, but because it’s the rhythm of the craft. We read to refuel, to relearn, to rediscover. We read so that when it’s our time to write, we have something true to say.