Drawing from the Well
Scenes Arranged: 3
Total Scenes: 147
Yeah, things have slowed to a trickle. It’s no wonder so many authors loving regard the middles of their book as the “muddle.” I’m working hard to keep it from READING that way, but the arrangement is not easy. I’ve got a few ideas to keep it interesting, I just haven’t caught fire with where I am yet. I will.
Filling the Well
That Hideous Strength: 12%
Sightwitch: 32%
Jessica Jones: S2E8 of 13
I got a little reading in. I want to get down to some show-watching to check some things off. I have to get through the final seasons of the Marvel Netflix shows so I can move on to other stuff, like catching up on TWD and Vikings. And all that is before I even get to any of the anime I want to watch (Dragon Ball Super is top of the list).
Polishing the Well
Yesterday was a serious work day for everyone. Homework abounded. My wife and I continued with our inventory and reorganization effort (which is going really well). If we can just keep putting in a little time each day, soon it’ll be done. We’ve almost gone through all the stuff that was up and organized and labeled a great deal of it. Now we’ve got a couple of old totes left and all the staged items to get boxed and labeled. It’s coming along.
Well Chat
Consuming multiple streams of content to rapidly fill the well
A LOT of people say they can’t read two books at once. I technically have five plus an audiobook. For me, being a voracious reader (at various times in my life) has always been about access. Whatever I can get my hands on, that’s what I read. I used to read the Nutrition Facts and ingredients in cereal as I ate the same cereal just to have something to read. This was before I realized the joy of a book next to my bowl (and long before Kindle was introduced).
With access came the acceptance that I might not be able to read the exact thing I wanted to read this second, but I could still enjoy the joy of reading something. So I would read a chapter of a book that happened to be sitting in a doctor’s office waiting room and then move on. That was how I got into the Two Towers before I read The Fellowship of the Ring or even The Hobbit. I didn’t know or care who Tolkien was. I just needed something to read.
Now, as to this myth of one book at a time. You watch TV, right? If you live in America and are reading this blog, you probably watch a fair amount of TV. Each network has many shows and each show has many episodes. That’s fine; each author has many books and each book has many chapters. What’s my point?
Outside of Netflix, how many networks air an entire show straight through the first time? Exceedingly few, right? And most of the time those that are come in a short-run format? 5-episode mini-series? 2-hour TV-movie-length airing?
Those are short stories.
So if you watch regular TV, you watch the episodes typically one at a time with a week in between. What do you do the rest of the week? Watch other shows that are ALSO showing just one episode a week.
This may feel like the long way around, but here’s the point: Can you keep those stories straight?
Yeah, but it’s different! No it’s not. Story is story. The fact that one is being played out for you by actors over a television screen and one is played out in words is merely a difference in semantics. You’re already keeping multiple storylines straight.
Even better! Do you confuse your friends’ lives all the time? Once in a while sure, but do you struggle to remember which one is a teacher with two kids and which one is a single programmer with a host of other concerns? No, of course not. Because we are wired for story.
Now, if you don’t LIKE to read multiple books at once for the sake of immersion or completion, I get that. But let’s debunk this myth of not reading multiple books because of ability. God designed us to relay stories to each other so we’re already hardwired to take in as much information as we can. Stop putting hard limits on yourself and get out there and read!
May the tide carry you to safer shores.
BSG