8 admirable qualities of readers

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The Importance of Reading

The other day I noticed something — all my friends are readers. And I don’t think it’s because I’m a writer. I’m attracted to people who read books because:

-Readers are interesting people to talk to

-Readers are good problem solvers

-Readers are not afraid of quiet time

-Readers are comfortable with being alone

-Readers are better informed than the average person

-Readers are good listeners

-Readers are world travelers

-Readers have a way of changing the world with their knowledge

It’s easy to admire fiction writers

If you are someone who writes – either a little or a lot – for your job or as a hobby, it’s easy to think: “Well, shoot, writing fiction doesn’t look very difficult.” Don’t believe this when you think it, because writing fiction is HARD. Writing a 200-300 page novel takes a tremendous amount of creativity and storytelling skill, which becomes evident only when you take on the task yourself. When I started writing fiction I reread some of my favorite fiction books, this time from the perspective of a writer rather than a reader. This little exercise creates a whole new level of admiration for what the author had accomplished.