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# Notebook: Fuel Your Creative Engine
- URL: https://www.tuskmor.com/notebook-fuel-your-creative-engine/
- Published: 2026-10-20T12:15:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-20T12:15:00.000Z
- Author: D.J Tuskmor
- Tags: Notebook

Every single writing course, craft book, or conference talk will espouse the importance of reading as much as, if not more than, you write. Time and time again, we hear about someone who hates to read but wants to write. To those people, we writers yell, "You MUST read if you want to write!"

I believe that wholeheartedly. It's anecdotal, but I have never met a writer who isn't a lover of the written word. Most of them love everything from news articles to poetry to tomes of fiction. I'm one of those writers. Feed me your drabbles, your flash fiction, your poems, and your chapbooks. Throw me your short stories, your novelettes, your novellas, and your novels. Send me your newsletter and your opinion piece in whatever newspaper you wrote it for. Just send me your words. I want to read them, devour them, and learn from them.

"Okay, so you are toeing the line as far as advice as old as time, then?"

YES! But also, don't stop at the written word. Read comic books ("those have words"... no shit, but it's also a visual medium) and graphic novels, watch TV and movies, listen to podcasts and audio dramas. On that last note, listen to audiobooks. You'd be surprised what you can get out of having a professional narrator read you the words. Go to plays and musicals, whether they're put on by grade schoolers or professionals. Listen to music, go to an art gallery, peruse art books, and look at beautiful and/or disturbing photographs. Challenge yourself, explore philosophy, and engage with content you otherwise wouldn't. I promise, it will all do a lot for your writing.

Why? Because you need not only to develop your own taste, but also to learn how to critically engage with art so that you can emulate or avoid things you like or don't like. It's like trying to cook a delicious pasta dish when you've never eaten pasta. How in the fuck will you know if it came out right? Worse, how can you tell how to modify it to your tastes if you haven't developed your palate?

On that note, eat delicious food too!

Anyway, what I am saying is that you have to consume more than just the medium you work in. Creativity is creativity. Filling up your creative gas tank can include a stroll through an art gallery, reading a short story, or watching some trash procedural on FX. It's all doing something for you.

Try it out. Let me know how it works out for you. I know that when I started engaging with concept art and tried my hand at drawing, my writing improved. Same when I took courses on screenwriting and narrative design. Watching movies and playing games... holy shit, did I forget to tell you to play games? PLAY GAMES! All of it opened my mind to what I could do in my own writing.

Explore and engage with creativity broadly. I promise you won't regret it.

As always, thank you for trusting me with your time, and thank you for reading my words.