Erik Smetana, On Reading

"I find the more I read, the better my own writing becomes. And as I discover new voices lining the shelves at my local bookstore (as well as online, in magazines, and through word of mouth), my world expands a little with every new cover I crack open.

When I first started writing with any serious intent, the feedback I'd get on those early futile attempts often included the old adage 'Write what you know,' but the thing is, when you read broadly, that idea becomes moot.

Making a point to read across genres, taking in both popular and literary fiction, picking up titles from major publishing houses and independents alike, devouring every journal (online and print) you can find, that changes a writer. It makes one better (stronger, faster, well at least more literate) and what you know becomes endless."

{Erik Smetana is currently working on a novel, Brighter than Sunshine, and is the founding editor of Stymie Magazine. More about Erik, his writing, and other such things can be found here.}