As a foreigner, I started reading both Dutch lit and translated SF. As I traveled a lot, I began reading SF/F in English as this was cheaper and more titles were available sooner, esp. from favourite authors.
Then I got the writing bug and started writing in English (much bigger market). It took 4 years to sell my first short story and another 4 for a pro short story sale. The latter because I got involved with editing a UK SF magazine, which takes up a huge amount of time.
Recently I edited a pro paying anthology for a UK publisher and right now am in between projects—editing-wise: the day job takes up most time—so am slowly returning to writing.
My reading is fairly catholic: I still enjoy good literature, hard-boiled noir, (comic) fantasy, (non-gore) horror, experimental/interstitial stuff and—of course—SF. When writing my approach—never mind if it appears fantasy, steampunk, horror or slipstream—is always SFnal (apart from the outright SF stories that form 50% of my output).