I believe writers have to read. I don’t have scientific data to prove the “why” of the claim; I only know that my writing improves the more I immerse myself in the writing of others. Such writing may be easy to read, and some of it may be difficult. Almost all of it makes me uncomfortable in some way. It challenges me to think through a subject, to explore how ideas in the work interact with my own, or to study how the writing itself works. As I do so, my own work grows. It initially takes on characteristics of what I’m reading, then my writing absorbs what I’ve learned and experienced. The form becomes something that is mine, something that is distinctively “Erin.”