For a few years now, Chris has been posting articles to help us with our craft. I’ve learn some valuable things on this site, from editing to copywriting to marketing books and everything in between. I might have missed it, but there is one bit of advice that I have not seen here. And that is, if you want to write well, you must read.

Reading to a writer is as medical school is to a doctor, as training is to an athlete, as breathing is to life. Think of reading books as taking a writing course.

I would suggest reading the classics: Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and, of course, Steinbeck, to name but a few. These three authors made up their own rules. (Hemingway couldn’t get published at first because his writing was so different from the writing that preceded him.)

Below are three examples of Steinbeck’s writing. If you read…