Reading & Writing

Lately I have been devouring books as if they were necessary, probably because for people like me, they are. In the last week alone I've finished 4 books, started a 5th, and abandoned a 6th. I have no idea how, exactly, I found the time to accomplish this, yet somehow I have. And I've done it at the expense of my own writing time.

There are very few people who give advice on writing that don't talk about how important it is for writers to read. As Stephen King says in his book On Writing, "If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There's no way around these two things that I'm aware of, no shortcut."

I guess I was just really hungry to read the words others have written.

Or maybe I was just avoiding the difficult work that is often involved in writing your own.

Perhaps it was a bit of both.

Lately there have been quite a few demands for my time. Some, quite pleasant, others...not so much.

But being alive can be a great deal like joining the circus. Sometimes juggling, sometimes balancing on a tight rope, sometimes letting go and trusting that someone will catch you.

This afternoon, I've secured a few hours to myself to listen to music and get some words of my own down. Fingers crossed there is some magic that happens.

But either way, at least I got my butt in the chair.

One of my favorite trees, located, quite conveniently, in my front yard.