Reading
It’s been a few days since people all around me in the neighborhood seemed determined to blast 2020 into smithereens and it’s time to consider the new year and things to do this year
Read MoreFor as long as I can remember I've loved books and reading. For many years as a kid I averaged about a book per week, but lately I have been sorely lacking in my reading discipline. I chalk that up to the fact that I had to switch to bifocals awhile back and before that I sort of weened myself off reading since I couldn't read the smallest printed letters with my old glasses. Now though I don't have any excuse NOT to read, so I should have a crack at my "to be read pile".
Read MoreSkryllegården, Sweden, January 2009
January is now over and we’re into the shortest month of the year. This month my grand total of photos taken has been the lowest in years, and I am fine with that. I’ve written several blog posts now about how the obsession with shooting I used to have up until the fall of 2014 hasn’t returned. That is okay, because I am still very interested in photography as a subject...or topic. I definitely read books and magazines and watch videos online about photographers’ works and techniques, I’ve just not felt the urge to go out there and apply the skills or ideas presented in these various types of media.
Read MoreIt’s now December and that means this year’s edition of National Novel Writing Month is over. It’s a bit of a mixed blessing to be honest. I will not miss the feeling of “having to” write all the words just to keep up, but at the same time...when you hit your stride, your flow, it’s such a great sensation! That’s when you can easily chalk up 5,000 words in a day, while some days just typing 1,000 feels like you’re dragging an NFL linebacker up a hill!
My story this year ended up in the sci-fi field, partly inspired by the ongoing rendezvous with the comet 67P (I know it has a longer double Russian name but I can't spell, nor pronounce it). It also ended up with a lot of similarities with Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama. So much so that if I ever decide to do more with it than sticking the manuscript in a box I’ll have to do LOTS of rewrites. But hey, that’s what the months after NaNoWriMo are for! Right? Right!
Instead, these few weeks before it’s time to board a plane westward towards the Lone Star State I will spend some time on reading some fiction and edit my never-ending project (from here on called The Book That Shall Be Finished...or TBTSBF...hm...not sure that acronym is all that good). Anyway, it’s something that’s been on the back burner for much too long and I need to finish it to get it over and done, so it moves from the "To be Finished" to the "Done and Ready" pile, which is embarrassingly small in comparison.
I've also promised someone very dear to me to read the first book in the Outlander series before Christmas, so that's also on my list of things to do. It's a shame that the paperback version of the book that I've got has a really, teeny, tiny typeface and my eyes aren't what they used to be! I've given serious thought to borrowing my mother's magnifying rig that she used to use when she did needlework so that I can read the text without squinting myself silly! We'll see if I actually need to do that though. I hope not, because it does look somewhat silly to use that thing to read!
I hope the book is good...that’ll make it worthwhile. I've gotten great reading suggestion from this very person before, so I am counting on it being worth the "effort".
