I took a leave from work over the summer, effectively taking off June, July and August. I intended to de-stress and to write. Retrospectively, I should have made allowances and plans for both of those things before embarking upon that venture. The chaos of summer camps, travel, and deaths in the family produced much material, but not a lick of actual writing. As for de-stressing. I suspect it takes more than a few months to get out of that habit of anxiety.
But I did read. A lot. I swallowed books whole. In addition to multiple Kindle books and little free library finds, I typically had one or two audio books checked out from the library as well. I’d listen to on my bluetooth headphones while doing all sorts of menial tasks like dishes, laundry, talking to my children. I listened to books walking, running and sometimes if it was a really compelling read, even while bicycling. I listened to books while working on my jigsaw puzzles, turning down opportunities to watch shows with my husband or movies with my kids. I write as if this is in the past tense. It only began in the summer. It has slackened little since then. I have immersed myself in books again. It truly is just another addiction. Controlling my consumption of books is no simpler than controlling my consumption of sugar. Like cigarettes and alcohol, it seems its all or none for me.
The problem with recidivisal(word?) reading is that I stop considering what I read. I stop fiddling with the thoughts and flipping through the ideas. I don’t hash through the opinions. Mostly, I do not remark upon them and let it influence my own writing. In Kindle format or even in paper format, I can highlight passages (as long as it is not the library’s copy!) . Audio book highlighting is nearly impossible. In Audible, you can mark the beginning and ending of passages, but in the library version of Audio books – which is free and unlimited and clearly the way to go – this is not possible. I have attempted if I start listening to a book with striking passages to return the audio format to the library and check out the Kindle, high-lightable version in its stead. But even if I have highlighted something. I still need to go back through the clever metaphors and the moving allegories and make something of them.
So, next week I begin a new writing class. I resolve to regulate my reading and make time for writing. Like any admitted addict, I fully hope that the chances for success increase with each re-commitment. I’ve managed it with other addictions. We shall see.