tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7578401708473829479.post8339316953205656986..comments2023-09-11T07:55:19.163-07:00Comments on Artist Wayfarers: Synchronicity? Or the opposite?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7578401708473829479.post-53112132442736042052010-06-01T14:52:46.348-07:002010-06-01T14:52:46.348-07:00Ah, and this is the time of day when I get serious...Ah, and this is the time of day when I get seriously reading-deprived. The Fall Down & Read Hour. When it's hopefully too soon to start dinner and too late to accomplish anything significant. Time to space out and fall in between some pages. <br /><br />Poor Tuckie is croaking over a book she wants to finish and pass along. Lynn just got into a book that engages her enthusiasm and makes her furious with God, all within the same binding. Viv needs to read as part of her creative process. Here we all are and it's only Tuesday! <br /><br />I just started rereading the Sue Graftons beginning with A is for Alibi about Thursday of last week. I'm now about 40 pages into F is for Fugitive and I still don't remember much at all about the first time I read these books.(Hmmm. Wonder why. Speed kills, maybe.) Except that I really, really like them. <br /><br />I started chasing after Kinsey Milhone because the agent who was passingly interested in my novel sent me a fabulous rejection letter (who knew such a thing could be?) and suggested that maybe I was rambling a bit in the second two chapters. The jury is out on that amongst my staff of readers, but I'm asking "WWKD?" Or maybe what would Sue do. She'd write tighter, it appears. <br /><br />But it seems serendipitous that just as I get onto a real reading tear (I also read the new Jack Reacher between Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, 2 a.m.) I hit a big old gritty brick Reading Deprivation Week wall. Ow. I had this whole conversation about "Well, I NEED to read for my WORK...." The truth is, I need to write for my work and I've read enough Kinsey to prime the pump. (I really need my heroin so I can play jazz piano on Bourbon Street too. It just one excuse after another with me.) <br /><br />I'll tell you what, though. It helps to have all y'all, Red State Girl and Detroit Woman, to angst along with me. I feel your pain. I feel my pain. It feels a lot better in a crowd.<br /><br />And all those kind things you said to each other, I say those, too. Thanks for being out there. And in here. A.Anniehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01832573479291712595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7578401708473829479.post-4536657590101324442010-06-01T10:36:46.393-07:002010-06-01T10:36:46.393-07:00Thanks, Viv. A good reminder. I have to admit, I...Thanks, Viv. A good reminder. I have to admit, I'm not going cold-turkey either...in fact, I'm working on a tagline for a little client right now and scanning other sources for inspiration. But I realize that some of the stuff I read is just avoidance...so I'm making a conscious effort to stop that stuff. Thanks for the comments on dementia. I just don't get what God might have had in mind with this one...and in choosing whether to stop believing or be mad, it doesn't help to live in a "red state" where people who profess faith are often selfish, bigotted moralizers. Yeh, I guess I have some wistful angst issues...and I think maybe that's what AW is about for me this time through...seeing the world in a different way. <br />I miss you too -- and your voice. Ever elegant...in both meanings of the word.Lynnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15561650283224059377noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7578401708473829479.post-11512763286292225612010-06-01T09:59:36.303-07:002010-06-01T09:59:36.303-07:00Hello, Lynn!
Well, first off -- I read you. As i...Hello, Lynn! <br />Well, first off -- I read you. As in Avatar: I see you. Hear you. Loud and clear. And second, I miss you! Your clear voice -- (always affirmative and encouraging as I remember it) sounding more wistful and anguished today, but that's what this crazy week is about, I guess. <br /><br />I haven't really got the hang of it: a week of NOT reading. O c'mon!<br /><br />I confess, I'm not taking the NO READING RULES of engagement with the Artist's Way all that seriously. Mostly, because I'm always scrambling for words in one way or another. I don't live with an ever-flowing font of well formed thoughts, just ready to tap like a vein in order to "write" -- writing simply defined here as the ability to set words down on paper/keyboard/screen for others to read. (not to be confused with journaling and morning page calisthenics - sp? see? case in point!) <br /><br />To write, I have to stop. Think. Read. Procrastinate. Reenergize. Reorganize. Gulp. Gasp. Read. Respond. <br /><br />Reading is like breathing. At least to me. So I'm not holding my breath this week, waiting for some epiphany in media deprevation. Though I am practicing some mindful, zenlike breathing exercises -- reading and responding to your post right here. <br /><br />My father,who was never much of a reader as I recall when I was growing up, took to voracious reading in his retirement. By cruel irony, he lost his eyesight to macular degeneration, one of a series of debilities that began both my parents' long and treacherous journey into dementia. Yes, it's possible to be crazy angry, watching the ravages of the disease take those you love. So open that window. Breathe in. Write out. <br />You have earned the right.VHenochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07566289897912291058noreply@blogger.com