Hoàng-Ân

Journal 9: Reading and Writing
Wednsday, March 4th, 1992


     I have always loved to read and write.  Reading and writing when go together create active readers.  Reading passively yields little knowledge and weak retaining of the materials read.  I get out of reading the savoir of different writing styles and the passion for writing. Usually, since I haven't developed my own style yet, after reading the product of a certain author, my writing temporarily retained the flavor and literature tone of that writer.

     There is an important relationship between reading and writing. Reading illuminates the mind, triggers curiousity, and enrichs imagination. Reading gives knowledge and provides suggestions for problem solving. It encourages the mind to explore different issues; to look at different aspects of a problem; to ponder upon the ideas presented, and gives the foundation to form a personal opinion or even a personal philosophy. Reading helps the serious reader to have a more open-mind, and grants the open-minded readers with a sophisticate and compassionate way of thinking.

    The effect that reading have o­n the writing process is manifold. Reading provokes thinking and thinking most of the time encourages the urge to express thoughts through writing. A passionate reader gives a lot of thoughts, time, and energy pondering upon the reading materials s/he has absorbed. S/he then develops her/his own personal view o­n the matter. The inner urge to communicate this view, if strong enough, will definitely ends in writing down his/her thoughts and present them to others.

    If the reading process is performed diligently enough, it will also enhanced the writing process. It helps build a strong foundation o­n grammar, vocabulary, and usage of the language. It introduces to the readers the different tones and styles of writing. It provides creativity through the myriad ways of expressing the same thoughts in new forms.

    To write is to have something to write about. Reading helps to trigger the writer's deeper concerns about certain personally significant issues. Moreover, o­nce it gets the writer started, reading provides different views for the writer to choose from or to glean his own personal conclusions from all the other different views o­n the subject(s). Reading not o­nly plants the seeds o­nto the reader's garden of thoughts, but will also nourish the plants of creativity. The flowers are the writer's original creations of refined literature.