It has indeed. You knew I wouldn't be able to keep up with some sort of discipline, right? Wrong! I just haven't posted and keeping track is a drag, dude.
I've added a few things to the routine - instead of reading each of the Writers at Work books as a whole, I'm going to read one interview a week until I get through the series. I've also added one essay/short story/whatever from a magazine called McSweeney's, which is edited by the same dude who does the Best American Non-Required Reading series, so it is AWESOME. The current issue came in a box that is a giant head, complete with drawings of brain matter and sinew. Lovely and pretty hysterical.
That means I've also changed the goal of two books a week to one fiction book and one non-fiction book a week. Still 104 books a year, but changed up so I get a little knowledge thrown in with my entertainment.
Right now the non-fiction book is one I've been meaning to read for a long time. It's An Exaltation of Larks by James Lipton, the man who hosts Inside the Actor's Studio. It turns out he's a genius. It's a book, by the way, that would totally bore anyone who isn't a word-nerd. It's just lists of phrases like "a pride of lions" or "a nest of machine guns" (my personal favorite). Sometimes there is a back story to where the phrase originated. Sometimes, just lists.
My Weekly Calendar
I used to have a goal here about eventually reading one book a day and writing fifty pages each week. Someday I may be able to get to fifty pages written, but I've had to come to terms with my inability to read fast enough to ever reach the other goal. Instead, I've begun pacing myself for what I think I can accomplish around work and other priorities. It will drastically cut back how many books I get through each year, but sometimes life is also about accepting what you won't achieve. It's beautiful and necessary to believe in infinite possibilities, but it's also beautiful and necessary to understand limitations.
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