That's right, I'm telling you, you, and you over there to stop blogging for a while. Though this may sound counterprogressive, this is actually very progressive. I will liken reading to walking and writing to running. Although this analogy has been overused, it is somewhat applicable here. If you can't walk, you can't run. If you try to run, you may stumble and hurt yourself. In some cases, your fall will interfere with the course of the race because some people will trip over you and fall along. You don't want to do that.
There is more to reading than knowing the meaning of every word in a sentence. You also need to pay attention to the context and to the tone of the writer. Ask yourself, "What is the writer's intention in writing this?" If you don't get it after extended contemplation, either the writer is doing a bad job or you're just being a bad reader. If you're a really good reader, you should be able to tell. Note that you can be a really good reader and remain a terrible writer the rest of your life. (Sorry to break your heart, but it's true.)
There are of course the chosen ones who can come up with flawless prose on their first try, but you're probably not among them. One writer who was convinced that she could write even though she'd read only three books in her life managed to self-publish an unusually bad fiction. There's a moral to this story.
Finally, unlike the walking/running analogy, you can improve your writing skills as you improve your reading skills. However, some of you are clearly doing a lot of writing and not enough reading! You are damaging your full potential! Eventually you'll be so used to producing bad writing you can't produce decent writing if you want to. In a worst-case scenario, you'll even be convinced that your bad writing is good! Please do yourself a favor and work on your reading skills first before you try to write anything!
Class dismissed.
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