In a case study launched by Deborah Brandt, she conducted interviews to learn about the relationship between writing and reading. Brandt highlights environmental and personal factors that affect people’s development with both activities. She illustrates that many of the respondents became avid readers because their parents habitually read to them, almost like a ritual. Though with writing, many parents of the respondents did not hold writing to the same importance as reading. Writing was not implemented as an activity. Brandt mentions that writing was negatively looked at due to the type of academic discipline of writing. Reading was seen as socially acceptable, whereas writing was more often seen as private and a form of self-expression. A lot of the emotion associated with writing was: guilt, shame, abandoned, loneliness, secrecy, etc.
Brandt analyzed the accounts of the respondents and said that reading and writing worked against each other in households rather than working cooperatively together for the benefit of learners. Writing did not play a communal role in the activities of a family as much as reading did.
I imagine that Brandt would tell me to embed empathy as second-nature because many people come from backgrounds where writing wasn’t a priority; it’s viewed more as a necessity for survival. Many people do not go beyond practicing their writing out of an academic setting and if they do, it’s mainly to express how something makes them feel. They do not want to be criticized for their writing and that is the reason why many people have trouble seeking help with their writing. A person’s writing is intimate, private, and vulnerable so they are insecure with the identity of being a writer. My role as a tutor is incredibly significant to a person’s progression with becoming comfortable and confident in their writing. I am there cultivate their identity as writer with empathy because their environmental circumstances as children have hindered their ability to positively utilize writing.
My Journey as a Writer 