It has been said that to read is to inhale and to write is to exhale. I would expand that to say that experience is inhalation and creation is exhalation. Reading is just one way of experiencing the world. It allows you to live experiences not your own, but it’s also important to gather your own lived experiences. If you’ve read my work for any length of time, you’re aware of how I exhale (i.e. create), but today I’d like to talk about what I inhale. What you take in has a great deal to do with what you produce, and I’ve found that a balance of the following seven…