D. Harlan Wilson, On Reading

"They say that, for writers, writing is a way to exorcise demons. That’s an illusion—and a romantic illusion at that. For writers, writing is utterly ordinary, a daily task, an extension of selfhood that, in its absence, would considerably redefine (and quash) selfhood. In other words, writing, like dreaming, is a simple means of processing, filtering, negotiating the nightmare of everyday life.

As for reading—this, too, for writers, is an essential component of identity. You can’t be a good writer if you’re not a die-hard reader. And you can’t become a better writer unless you develop a steady, if not rabid, habit of reading."

{D. Harlan Wilson is an award-winning novelist, short story writer, literary critic and English professor. Visit his website here, and visit his blog here.}