As a writer, you know you should be reading every day. You know that it’s a vital part of filling your creative well. But with so many great books out there, how do you decide which ones to read? What sort of system should you use to read more?

I’ve talked before about the importance of taking a book everywhere you go. One way to maximize your creativity and productivity even more, when it comes to reading, is to read two books simultaneously: one for education, and one for pleasure.

Of course, reading at all is fantastic, but when you read two books concurrently, the cross-pollination can spark creative ideas you would not have otherwise.

It’s probably not realistic to flit back and forth between five or ten books, reading a bit of each one before reading a bit of another one. But two books? You can do that.

Even if you just read for ten minutes a day, those few minutes of filling your mind with good material will pay off hugely. After all, if you want to write books, you must first be a person who reads them.