First blog posts come with a lot of pressure. It has to be The Post that Introduces and Encompasses and Establishes the Mission of The Blog. So I will call this my second blog post and not worry too much about it.
I’ve been reading less lately. I don’t like it. I don’t understand it. I think it is, in part, due to the amount of time I spend reading the internet. A few years ago I was at a wedding and another guest told me he hasn’t read a book in years. He spent plenty of time reading, he assured me, but just on the internet. Short form reading.
I was shocked and appalled and confused.HOW? I wondered. How could a person get by without spending every spare second on the bus, in line or in the break room, in the bath or in bed. And then, somehow, in the slow slip of time that went to running, dating, working, writing, I stopped being a reader. I’ll check Slog and Jezebel and Facebook 50 times a day but I haven’t sat down with a book and just read for ages. I’ve read manuscripts for friends and listened to over a dozen audio books at the office but it just doesn’t feel the same.
My fiancé (I haven’t made up a name for him yet) reads comics on his iPad near constantly. While we watch Movies or TV he can, somehow, focus on both. I think he functions better this way, reading and listening at the same time. It helps him focus somehow. I need to learn to do this. To put aside my laptop and the online shopping or the latest draft of my manuscript and pick up a book, tune out Storage Wars or Top Chef. To stop working on my own words and let myself get lost in someone else’s.
My literary goals for the year (It’s not New Years but who cares)
Read a new book each month (the old me cringes at the smallness of this goal)
Self-publish my 2 current manuscripts
Complete a new novel in November for NaNoWriMo
Blog at least 3 times a week.
Find a way to combine reading and exercise. Maybe long sessions on a stationary bike with my Kindle?
I also have a wedding upcoming in October, so I need to start getting into good habits and routines today.
I can do this.
This is important.
I must read again.
