I started reading as a kid not because my parents read to me (as is so often advocated) but because my parents read. They went to the library every week, so I went along. They sat in the family room after dinner, reading, so ditto my brothers and I. Now, decades later, I still head to the library every Saturday, and I still read after dinner (often, during dinner).

Reading helped me become a better writer. Here are but three reasons why:

1. Better Vocabulary

The most obvious thing to which reading adds is your word bank. As we encounter unfamiliar words, we extrapolate their meaning from the context. (It doesn’t take a child long to figure out what was blustery about Winnie the Pooh’s day.) As kids, we could ask our parents or teachers for definitions. (Well, maybe you did. My dad’s standard answer was “Look it up.” The dictionary became my friend.)

2. Better Spelling

Words heard but not seen are often mispronounced. A friend of mine used to say craft of wine, not carafe. He probably never saw the word carafe. I’m sure you’ve heard someone say realator instead of realtor or  prostrate exam not prostate exam.   There are innumerable other examples. I recently heard of a woman convicted of murder on evidence that she commonly said and wrote antifree instead of antifreeze (her murder weapon of choice. I guess she read the label only so far as the word lethal.)

(The ideal way to build up your written and spoken vocabulary is to hear and see a word, English having notoriously complex rules, and exceptions to rules, of pronunciation.)

3. Better Self

A smarter self, sure. Reading improves your knowledge of dates, figures, statistics and what-happened-when. But what I mean here is that reading helps you develop your attitudes and opinions. Whether you are reading Charlotte Bronte or Charlotte’s Web, you find characters you like or loath. Why? What is it about them that appeals to you, repels you?

When I, in the pages of a book, meet with [insert character's name here... anyone from Jo March, Lord Voldemort or Henry VIII] and visualize her or his predicament, I can’t help but wonder how I’d react, how I would fare in similar circumstances. We read about others to find ourselves. Knowing yourself makes you a better writer, because you know more deeply what you want to express.

Want to improve your writing, your speaking and your character? Read!