Distinctive

By Caroline Matas, Ph.D.

Every student I work with receives the same exhortation as we talk through their summer plans. Between the summer classes, the sports camps, the internships, and the travel, please, I beg them, please, make time to read a book by the pool. 

It isn’t really about the pool. A creek, a hammock, or an air-conditioned cafe would work just as well.

And it isn’t even (entirely) about the importance of rest and relaxation (although taking time to breathe and return to yourself is an essential part of summertime, in my opinion). 

It is because the absolute number one best way they can prepare to write their college essays, when the time comes, is to become better, broader, and more habitual readers.

This is not new advice. In fact, Distinctive’s founder, Victoria, wrote about this exact issue over a decade ago. Stephen King’s 2000 classic On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft famously makes the same claim: “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.”

Reading is essential to good writing for several reasons. Firstly, it helps train your ear to what effective writing sounds like. You know when you read a line in a book and it just hits you straight in the chest? Whether or not you spend time reflecting on it, you’re taking in a data point about how good writing sounds, how a well-made point is constructed and delivered. Secondly, reading (especially reading widely) helps you explore the world of possibilities as you develop your own voice. Are you a dry, humorous writer like David Sedaris? Are you a lyrical, sensory-rich writer like Toni Morrison? Do you favor a more experimental, genre-defying approach to writing like Jennifer Egan? Reading across genres helps you get a better sense of how your voice might best take shape.

I know getting into reading can feel intimidating and, frankly, less fun to some of you than the many other activities that might be calling your name this summer. So below, I’ve offered a few ideas to help you kick-start your reading journey.

Try Out New Genres

Caroline, you might be thinking, I spend all school year reading. I want to take a break! And listen, I get it. But that’s why I am not asking you to read War and Peace. I am asking you to explore what kinds of writing resonate with you. Pick up a genre you’ve never read in school–a graphic novel, a poetry book, experimental fiction, nonfiction about a topic of interest to you, an anthology of essays by different writers. If you don’t know where to start, visit your local library or bookstore. These bibliophiles would love to chat with you and help recommend some books that might appeal to you.

Reward Yourself

Perhaps you think you’ve outgrown the days of sticker charts and pizza parties. Well, I certainly haven’t! Whenever I have a daunting task ahead of me, I think about ways to sweeten the deal and/or track my progress. Whether through buying fun stickers for a sticker chart, creating a bingo sheet or punch card, or choosing a reward for yourself after a predetermined number of books or pages, find an external system that helps reward the habits you want to cultivate. 

Don’t Go it Alone

Many of us think of reading as a solitary activity, but it doesn’t have to be. If your parents have been pushing you to read more, turn the tables on them: ask them to read a book alongside you! Start a book club with friends or join one in your community. Get plugged into BookTok and find online friends with a similar taste in books. The more you are able to be part of a community of readers, the more likely you are to be a reader.

Don’t Fight Your Phone

You may not be much of a book reader, but you’re likely actually reading all the time. Text messages, social media captions, even Snapchats are texts in the Media Studies sense. Becoming a better observer of your own existing reading habits will help you build a bridge to other kinds of reading. If putting your phone down to read a physical book seems impossible, pair an audiobook with a game on your phone! Get an e-reading app and make it part of your app rotation. Find a social media account that reads books aloud. In short, if you can’t beat your phone addiction, find a way to make it serve you better.

The trick to reading more is, it turns out, to simply read more. That can (and hopefully will!) include picking up a physical book and letting yourself get lost in another world for a while. But don’t be afraid to make use of whatever tools will help you get there, from the buddy system to a homemade rewards program to a more phone-heavy approach. No matter how you get there, make this the summer you read more. Your life, and your writing, will be better for it.