My consumption of books has dropped dramatically over the years. Twenty years ago I’d read 100 books a year no problem, but in recent years sometimes I barely get through a book a month.
There are a number of reasons that added together have put that big dent in my consumption.
The rise of social media, which eats up way too much of my time. Gotta put some limits there, eh?
The end of the confining tyranny of network TV. Now with NetFlix, specialty cable channels, cable on demand, etc., it’s just too easy to find all sorts of interesting stuff to watch for hours in front of the tube, er, screen. And PVRs add to the media flow by storing a backlog of stuff I want to watch.
An inability to say NO to volunteer commitments. I’m now down to being active on three boards, which is freeing up some personal time.
I noticed that following the injury to my ankle/foot recently, I read nearly a book a day over the last week. Hm. So it can be done!
It was also interesting to enjoy the interaction of reading. Active? I’m the kind of person who underlines, makes notes in margins. . .
With TV it’s more in one eye and out the other : – ).
Anne Applebaum, author of Red Famine: Stalin’s War on Ukraine, gives a deep, balanced interview on the Holodomor, the forced famine/genocide in Ukraine perpetrated by Stalin and the Soviet regime.
Got Chicago 17 (The Chicago Manual of Style) at Chapters Metrotown today! With employee card and a few $$ remaining on a couple of performance gift cards I snagged it for C$34.
It is truly “The Essential Guide for Writers, Editors, and Publishers.”
My Value Village find today — a book presented to John Fraser, who was a Canadian federal Minister of the Environment, Fisheries & Oceans Minister, and House Speaker.
And a cool tidbit — he was born in Yokohama, Japan.
Funny how the stars align now and then. Today is the 10th anniversary of my Mom’s passing. She spent over 30 years in the College of Education at the University of Saskatchewan, retiring as Assistant Dean, Student Affairs.
And just now in my email box I see an invitation to a “Millions of Memories” College of Education Alumni Event (I did a B. Ed. there way back when).
Mom would advise me to “do” rather than “stew”, so despite the gray, rainy day, I’m going to go for a long walk before dinner.
Yes, this really is udder cream, but it’s great for dry, cracking human skin, too. I knew we had a jar around, but had not seen it in a year or two. Cracking, bleeding skin on both thumbs and forefingers (partly due to my recent PT job unboxing and shelving books) led us on a cream search through the bathrooms and first-aid kits… Success!
Blam! Blam! Black Sombrero fired his Colt .45 at the shadow in the barn, then spun and snapped three shots at the posse approaching across the coral. . .
My latest blog post for The Editors’ Weekly on why factual accuracy and plausibility are important even in fiction.
UPDATE: Aug. 26 — and this is why the world needs editors, lots of them! I don’t know how many sets of eyes went through this without noticing that “coral” should be “corral.” Blushing. . .
I’m rejiggering my volunteer time. Pulling back a bit from some of the fishy/enviro stuff, and shifting over to more work-related volunteering.
First step, meet the new Program Chair for the Editors Canada BC Branch :-).
I really enjoyed meeting lots of folks and renewing many acquaintances at the Editors Canada BC Branch Annual General Meeting tonight.
Thank you for your confidence in accepting me into the executive fold, and here’s to having more great programs for 2016-17 starting next autumn! And thanks to Kyra and Marianne for also joining the program committee.
I have some big shoes to fill, but I’m happy that everyone is happy to help.
Had a fun time at the three-day Creative Ink Festival in Burnaby the last three days. Lots of good, inspirational speakers, who really got into the nuts and bolts of the writing life. While I’m more of an editor than a writer, I found all the sessions that I attended valuable.
Let’s refresh that daily word count target, and get writing!
