International Women’s Day will be celebrated this week on Thursday, March 8th.
International Women’s Day is coming up on March 8th and the University of Waterloo’s Women Centre will be celebrating International Women’s Week starting March 5th. On Monday the 5th, read Kate’s blog post about books that feature compelling female protagonists!
Seeking out reliable book recommendations is the strategy that has most transformed my reading habits in recent years.
In a past blog post, I discussed how valuable it can be to adopt a recreational reading habit as a student.
This summer, the Writing and Communication Centre embarked on a campaign to promote reading for enjoyment. Often our lives get too busy to do things just for fun. It’s understandable. Life gets hectic and tasks pile up; however, it’s extremely important to take time for yourself just because you can. We need to make more time for enjoyment, and what’s a better time than summer?
“’Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.’” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince
In my previous three blog posts, I talked a lot about the benefits of reading and writing, as well as some of the different forms of reading and writing that are often overlooked. However, I think it is also important to talk about some of the barriers to reading and writing.
When people think of writing, they often immediately think of novels or of that report that they have been meaning to write. However, writing can be so much more than that.
With the help of visuals, comics can express so much that words often cannot. For example, take a look at the panel below.
My favourite thing about reading and writing is the ability to get lost into a different world. Sometimes life can get overwhelming with all the things that we have to do. It is often hard to set aside time for reading or writing, but it can be really important to do so.
When I say reading or writing, I don’t mean reading your textbook or writing your school paper. I mean writing a poem, fiction story, or blog post. I mean reading that novel you have been meaning to read, or that comic book that your friends keep mentioning.
It’s no coincidence that the best writers we know are also avid readers. When we read, we unconsciously pick up on the vocabulary, phrasing, structure, and flow in what’s being read. When we read lots, we’re essentially learning a wide repertoire of writing techniques which we internalize and later use in our own writing. So, an obvious logical step towards improving one’s writing is simply to read more.