Well, this is obviously a matter of opinion, not science, but I think one would do well to read (examples) Hemingway or Clemens (a.k.a. Twain) before presuming to write something meant to be read by others.

> My poems are dreadful, my stories silly, but I've learned what makes others so talented.

I think one could learn skilled writing more quickly by reading than by writing, and without the esteem-crushing experience of seeing how badly one's own early experiments fall short. I emphasize that I'm talking about having an unrealistic expectation that one's own early writing serves as anything but an exercise to be quickly discarded -- referring to both programming and prose.