Week 0 Reading

To be a good writer, you must be a good reader.

To be a good writer, you must soak yourself in words that resonate with the unsounded depths of the universe. You must tip toe around poetry, unsure. You must stumble through philosophy, unable to comprehend. You must weep for the fatal redemption of Sydney Carter. Your outstretched hand must tremble for the love of White Fang.

Writer, beloved writer, you must read. If you can’t write. Read. If you don’t have time to read a chapter, read a page. If you don’t have time to read a page, read a sentence. Just one delicious sentence.

Each week’s materials has a link to a reading that corresponds to the theme of the writing. Because of the nature of this course, I have chosen essays, but in the unfolding of your ongoing practice, any good book will work. After you fill out your Daily Card, set a timer for somewhere around half of your remaining time and read. If it takes you seven five-minute intervals to get through the assignments, great. If you whiz through them and end up reading each reading seven times, great! If you read the essays and fall in love with the writer and read another of their essays, great! If you skip my readings to read something you love…well, that will be fine too. But mine are great. Promise.

Last time, I instructed you to leave the back of your Daily Card blank. This is why…if you stumble upon a sentence that you can’t bear to leave behind. Write it down. If you find a character you need to keep with you for the afternoon, scribble their name in the corner. If you put their initials in a heart with yours, I won’t know or judge. Fortify yourself against a day when your life insists you can’t read and all you can do is glance through your cards.

Week 0 Reading:

“Living Like Weasels” by Annie Dillard

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