Oh, Cheryl! I LOVE your foundation for your writing!
I love reading too, and I don’t think I’ve noticed until you mentioned it that my own writing suffers a bit when I don’t read. That said, sometimes I go through very weird bouts where put my reading aside for the silliest of reasons–sometimes I’m mad at a book because the plot isn’t going the way I want it to or something like that. Then I switch to reading a non-fiction book, especially an historical text, and get a bit bored and then switch back to the novel, so happy with the plot after all. I drive myself crazy with my silliness!
I’m so glad you shared because I’m sure a lot of people have similar experiences, including me, even with my weird reading habits.