In my never-ending search for balance, I recently attempted to give up reading. Something had to give, and for awhile that something was reading. I stayed AWAY from the library (which was hurting my son much more than it was hurting me). Books were NOT my friends because I was staying up too late reading them. Plus, think of all the WRITING I could be doing when I wasn't READING!
However, I'd say I did the same amount of writing and STILL went to bed late. (What happened to all that lost time? I don't know. I'll never know. I've done similar give-something-up experiments before, and I'm convinced there is some kind of time goblin that eats large portions of my life.)
With the insatiable desire to read SOMETHING I turned to the books that had sat much too long by my bed waiting to be read. I just finished Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford. And now I'm reading Daphne Du Murier's Rebecca. (Both re-reads and worthy of a second visit.) (Both obviously not YA fiction, which is why they sat too long by my bed.) And this week...we're going to the library.
Have you ever tried to give up reading? Writing? Blogging? Chocolate-chip cookie dough?
I find when I give up reading it is so much harder to write. I'm not sure why that's the case, but it gives me just the boost I need to keep pushing forward! Also, I would never give up chocolate chip cookie dough, bad for the nerves :D
ReplyDeleteI first read Rebecca when I was in high school and loved it.
ReplyDeleteI try giving up things all the time in an effort to be better at something else. It doesn't work out very well most of the time. I'm like you. I give it up, but I still don't do the thing I intended to do.
Great post. I'm pretty sure that the more I read, the more I write. I don't know where I get the time. It's kind of like how when my day is busy, I get more done than when it's wide open and I end up getting less done.
ReplyDeleteJen-I'm pretty sure that reading (and chocolate chip cookie dough) feed my writing muse. Giving up reading? Ha! Worst idea I ever had.
ReplyDeleteKayeleen-Why is that? When we give up the something, what fills our time? It's a goblin, I tell you.
Tamara-That's my new favorite theory.
Nice post! I can't live without writing anything on my blogs, write anything that happens to me or what I've seen..I'll write it down rather than talking with someone. I'll give up talking and can't stop writing.
ReplyDelete