Targeted Reading.

Every writer knows that in order to write well, you need to read also. My reading is wide - everything from non-fiction to a range of fiction genres.

But have you considered targeted reading?

My skills continually develop but when I'm writing a piece I sometimes feel as though it's not quite working as I would like it to. Maybe the setting isn't quite right, or I'm just not getting the mood I want. About a year ago, I started targeted reading in those instances. I grab out a short story or novel I recall having a feeling similar to mine, and read that section. The stories are usually nothing alike, and more often than not even the setting isn't exactly as I recalled it. But what I do see is how certain things are done by better and more experienced authors, and I can analyse why the writing created that feeling in my mind. From that I learn.

Of course I don't do this for every story I'm writing, just those ones where I feel stuck. I don't have time to read stuff in the middle of a writing session. After all, the computer is distracting enough.