I started Week 4 today after a month off due to travel, not feeling well, etc. I never abandoned the morning pages; in fact, I just finished up a composition book full of them yesterday.
This is the Reading Deprivation Week. Ruth talked about that; many people apparently use reading to numb out a bit. I've met people who do. This is a bit of a conundrum for me, though, as I've just resumed reading for pleasure. Every time I go back to school, which seems to happen every ten years, I get so sick of reading (because it is required) that I don't do it again for a couple of years. The activities Cameron suggests you do instead of reading, such as working out, rearranging the kitchen, etc, is what I have been doing for years instead of reading!
Can this reading restriction be retroactive?
I read Stephen King's On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft over the last two days. I borrowed it from the library; this am I bought my own copy as it was full of gems. One of those gems totally flies in the face of what Julia Cameron says: "If you don't have time to read, you don't have time to write." He posits that to learn how to write, you must read. Of course others say that as well.
Needless to say I am going crazy.
Cameron also suggests baking. I'm still baking bread at least once a week, sometimes twice. In fact, while typing this a new shipment of baking goodies from King Arthur Flour arrived. So tomorrow morning I'll do some baking before I run errands.
Errands tomorrow include a CT scan. I had an xray and a bunch of labs last week due to my under the weather condition; the labs were great, the xray was inconclusive. I have some lumps along my left lower rib that seem attached to it and are getting bigger, so my doc wants to check those out. When I lay on my left side a certain way, it feels as if I'm laying on marbles. They didn't show up on the xray, so thus the CT.
Off now to attend a lecture by Linda Hasselstrom at the public library. The library also will provide lunch. All of this is paid for by a grant so I get a free lunch and a great lecture!
3 comments:
I am interested to know how your reading deprivation week is going. I was in a similar place to you when I did mine. I felt that I had been avoiding reading because of work overload and had just restarted. But I did it anyway, and it did felt me go deeper.
I'm thinking about trying a TV deprivation week, but I haven't figured out yet how to do that in conjunction with my husband's TV watching habits. I don't really want to exile myself to a back room for a whole week.
Oh, dear///praying for health and strength for you.
Read AND write. Both are salutary ways to feel utterly yourself and utterly better.
I think reading is a both/and == both a distraction and an enrichment.
I really want to start doing this... as soon as my arms is totally better... (it is a little)
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