I think critical reading is crucial. I teach writing to Grade 6/7 kids as a 16 week residency and while many of the kids show promise, one wants to be a writer and so another author and I are taking her under our wings. He’s going to mentor her writing, and I’ll be teaching her critical reading. On one hand, I lament the loss of innocent reading, but on the other, I don’t think if you have the writing gene you can ever really read without studying it somehow, even if you’re unaware that you’re doing it. Also, the books that really suck you in are that much sweeter.

I was listening to a podcast on screenwriting and one of the guys said he’s started “positive movie going” as a new way of watching movies. He goes in with a great attitude, hoping to love it. I am applying that to reading and I can already see a difference. I’ve read and enjoyed a couple of books that in the past I wouldn’t have expected to even while seeing the things that would’ve turned me off before. I will teach her that.