A week without reading
I didn’t feel like reading last week. And I may not this week. And I’m okay with that.
This may sound like blasphemy coming from a writer, but I actually think of it as therapeutic. I just came off a few intense weeks of non-stop writing and copy editing from the crack of dawn until bedtime, and by the end of that last deadline I was completely mentally and physically fried. My hands were like claws. My neck and shoulders felt like they had whiplash. My brain was mush.
I know, I know–tough life. Get to spend my days making up stories. Believe me, I’m not complaining. I agree with that Russian mystery novelist that being a writer is like being on an eternal vacation.
But I also recognize that in order to keep doing this for as long as I want–that would be until five minutes after I’m dead–I have to take time to replenish my brain and unclench my body. If that means two weeks of nothing but TV, rented movies (I think today we’ll do Baby Boom), yoga, and walking, then that’s how it has to be.
In her book The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron prescribes a week without reading as part of a 12-week creative recovery for the blocked writer or other artist. She says out of all the directions she gives, this one is the one that meets with the most resistance. People have all sorts of arguments: they have to read for work, they have to keep up with the news, they’ll go crazy if they can’t read even the cereal box. But Julia is firm. She says it helps the creative mind to get other people’s chatter out of it for a week. Give the brain room to make up its own words.
I’m not sure if watching What Not to Wear and Grey’s Anatomy all those other guilty pleasures counts as part of my mental recovery, but it sure feels like it right now. I need someone else to entertain me, and I don’t want to have to work at it. I thought about watching Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but then I realized I don’t even want to read subtitles at the moment. I’m that burned out.
Of course, this isn’t helping me accomplish my 50-Novel Challenge, nor is it letting me plow through my enormous To Be Read pile (Diana, you’re still on top!), but I figure it’s like weight-lifting: you can’t do it every day or the body breaks down and actually grows weaker. It’s during your days off that the muscles have a chance to recover and become stronger.
I’m wondering if any of the rest of you out there go through these periods of reading apathy. Maybe it’s after finishing a semester of school, or wrapping up the draft of a novel, or during times of stress when you don’t feel like exerting yourself one more iota. You let the newspapers and magazines pile up, and turn to Lost reruns and cooking shows for relief.
Can we all agree it’s not laziness, it’s actually good for our mental health?
Technorati Tags: Reading, Books, Writing, Publishing, Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way, Creativity
August 7th, 2006 at 8:27 am
All readers go thru this-it’s our equilivent of writer’s block,IMO. Some days,you just want to zone out(What Not To Wear is good for that,plus they do give some good fashion advice!),especially when your TBR piles start to get immense.
Right now,I’ve reading an old Olivia Goldsmith novel,Flavor of the Month. It’s just as good as going off on vacation,maybe better since I don’t need to take suntan lotion and bug spray with me!
August 7th, 2006 at 8:29 am
And I pull ahead in the novel-reading challenge! Whoo-hoo!
August 7th, 2006 at 8:39 am
Drat.
August 7th, 2006 at 12:01 pm
The cake decorating competitions on Food Network are my new favorite thing for brain-draining. Check it out!!!
August 7th, 2006 at 3:11 pm
I never notice when I’m reading subtitles. It always feels like I speak the language to me. Wait, maybe I do speak the language. Je parle beaucoup de langues. E li parlo così come una scimmia con una tenda in una foresta delle torte della luna
August 9th, 2006 at 5:22 pm
A week without reading? Yeah right. But I think this is hysterical– “She says it helps the creative mind to get other people’s chatter out of it for a week.” It is the MAIN reason I threw out my TV, and here y’all are letting it spoonfeed you crapola and commercials and clutter up your gray matter with fake factoids.
Oh, and Barry? I dragged my bags of paperback books out of the basement to donate to the thrift shop the other day, and I know the last time I did this was sometime in January. There were seven full bags. Each bag holds approximately 25 to 30 paperbacks. Ya wanna talk about who’s ahead in this reading challenge thing, bucko?
Patrick, are you naturally this insufferable? Or do you have to really work at it?
August 9th, 2006 at 7:14 pm
Whew, BJ!! On fire!
August 9th, 2006 at 7:51 pm
bj,
by all accounts it would appear that patrick is this insufferable, naturally. (i believe its marker is f6-202 on the human genome, they’re working on a vaccine as we speak). but i say those among us without, you know what, shouldn’t be casting them, you know, things. can we talk a little bit bj about umm, how shall i put this, overcompetiveness. (f8-088, and no cure in sight). this is after all a book reading competition bj, books, not powerball, not american idol. now i say this with love and because i completely forgot that the challenge was on, so no hope for me. (also, because i take every opportunity to defend patrick againt vicious attack no matter how warranted). my only recourse is therefore to be above it all–ta, i’m off to watch “project runway”.
August 9th, 2006 at 8:19 pm
Was ist das Sprechen Esel und Birnen dieses Banane für Fisches? Ich habe eine Tulpe für ein Endstück und Glockenturmschultern.
Big hugs, Annette. Stay strong.
Let’s see… I read a book on Monday. I read a book last Friday. I read a book the Monday before. I sense a pattern forming.
Really, it takes no effort at all.
August 9th, 2006 at 8:36 pm
bj,
“I am,” I said
To no one there
An no one heard at all
Not even the chair
“I am,” I cried
“I am,” said I
And I am lost, and I can’t even say why
Leavin’ me lonely still
Who’s Jewish now? Huh? Huh? What?
Thought so…
August 9th, 2006 at 8:37 pm
BJ,
I would never let a precious book slip from my grasp once I owned it. Your lack of fidelity to the sacred written word is…disturbing.
Game, set, and…match!
Barry
August 9th, 2006 at 9:18 pm
things seem to taking a nasty turn here. sorry, bj cant’t help you (being above it all), but i sense you’ll have no problem holding your own in your quest for reading supremacy.
okay patrick, the german thing–definitely edging toward creepdom–cuidado.
August 10th, 2006 at 3:36 am
Oh wait, this wasn’t the Mel Gibson thing… I’m sorry. Who doesn’t love Neil Diamond?
No one else has the same love of Babelfish? Creating gibberish in other languages? Weird.
August 12th, 2006 at 5:13 pm
Barry, I made the choice to spend my money on books, not on the edifice to house them all. I think you need to read the rules, it’s how many books you read, not how many you currently own (though I very well could still be in the running even with that . . . )
Neil Diamond, huh? Here I was thinking Barry Manilow . . . ugh!