I had barely posted last Thursday’s writing quote, when I realized that I didn’t agree with it 100%.
Just to recap, the quote was from US author Ellen Gilchrist (1935 -2024) and read:
“How often I have tried to tell writing students that the first thing a writer must do is love the reader and wish the reader well.”
I still love the quote and I definitely do think respecting and valuing readers is a really important part of the writing life. The “not 100%” lies in that, on reflection, I don’t believe it’s the “first” thing.

… havin’ fun with readers 😉
The absolute first thing a writer must do, in my humble opinion, is love writing. And the second is to love reading. If only because, in my experience, they go together in a very yin-yang type way, where one blends into the other and the boundary between them is always fluid.

with Felicia, a young ‘Wall of Night’ reader
So while loving the reader is important, it ranks after the other two for me — because without first loving reading and writing enough to write oneself, there will be no readers to love. (Upside-down smile.)

At Armageddon
I can assure you, though, that I love all three. 😀

Nothing beats a bookshop crowd