Feel free to vote and/or leave a comment....
Finding time to read
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aliantha
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Finding time to read
I've sort of committed myself to writing a post for Indies Unlimited next week on how to find time to read. The idea is that writers need to read because it helps us learn to write well, but everybody always complains that they don't have time. Since most Watchers don't seem to have a problem with working reading into our day, I thought I'd take a poll.
Feel free to vote and/or leave a comment....
Feel free to vote and/or leave a comment....
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Orlion
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My theory: if you want to read, you will find time to read.
There are plenty of moments where we are wasting our time which can be used to read instead if we really wanted to.
1) Watching TV. I've found that TV is a massive waste of time and adds little to no value to my life.
2) Hanging out with friends. A social life may be helpful/necessary, but sometimes it seems like they want you around every...day.
Say no to such nonsense, focus on reading.
3) Waiting at work. Every once in a while, you may find yourself in a holding pattern at work. Don't just pick your nose during this time, multitask! Reading will help you improve yourself as a worker or make you more agreeable to work with!
4) Posting on Kevin's Watch....seriously, what are you doing? Instead of going that twentieth round with your arch-nemesis over the same disagreement, realize that winning internet battles is pointless...much like reading in a way, but much less enjoyable... so read!
5) Finding that significant other to share your life with
You were born alone, you'll die alone... pass the time between existential voids with books!
6) Eating, drinking, bathing, etc. What's the point? Books understand me... if I get enough books, life will have meaning, right? Right?
As Morgan Freeman should have said, "Get busy reading or get busy dying"
There are plenty of moments where we are wasting our time which can be used to read instead if we really wanted to.
1) Watching TV. I've found that TV is a massive waste of time and adds little to no value to my life.
2) Hanging out with friends. A social life may be helpful/necessary, but sometimes it seems like they want you around every...day.
Say no to such nonsense, focus on reading.3) Waiting at work. Every once in a while, you may find yourself in a holding pattern at work. Don't just pick your nose during this time, multitask! Reading will help you improve yourself as a worker or make you more agreeable to work with!
4) Posting on Kevin's Watch....seriously, what are you doing? Instead of going that twentieth round with your arch-nemesis over the same disagreement, realize that winning internet battles is pointless...much like reading in a way, but much less enjoyable... so read!
5) Finding that significant other to share your life with
You were born alone, you'll die alone... pass the time between existential voids with books!6) Eating, drinking, bathing, etc. What's the point? Books understand me... if I get enough books, life will have meaning, right? Right?
As Morgan Freeman should have said, "Get busy reading or get busy dying"
'Tis dream to think that Reason can
Govern the reasoning creature, man.
- Herman Melville
I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all!
"All creation is a huge, ornate, imaginary, and unintended fiction; if it could be deciphered it would yield a single shocking word."
-John Crowley
Govern the reasoning creature, man.
- Herman Melville
I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all!
"All creation is a huge, ornate, imaginary, and unintended fiction; if it could be deciphered it would yield a single shocking word."
-John Crowley
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rdhopeca
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Orlion wrote:My theory: if you want to read, you will find time to read.
There are plenty of moments where we are wasting our time which can be used to read instead if we really wanted to.
1) Watching TV. I've found that TV is a massive waste of time and adds little to no value to my life.
2) Hanging out with friends. A social life may be helpful/necessary, but sometimes it seems like they want you around every...day.
3) Waiting at work. Every once in a while, you may find yourself in a holding pattern at work. Don't just pick your nose during this time, multitask! Reading will help you improve yourself as a worker or make you more agreeable to work with!
4) Posting on Kevin's Watch....seriously, what are you doing? Instead of going that twentieth round with your arch-nemesis over the same disagreement, realize that winning internet battles is pointless...much like reading in a way, but much less enjoyable... so read!
5) Finding that significant other to share your life with
6) Eating, drinking, bathing, etc. What's the point? Books understand me... if I get enough books, life will have meaning, right? Right?
As Morgan Freeman should have said, "Get busy reading or get busy dying"
Rob
"Progress is made. Be warned."
"Progress is made. Be warned."
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Vraith
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Method number 1:
Never commit yourself to writing articles about such topics.
[[1-a...if you do commit yourself to such, the article should say: don't write articles like this, don't read articles like this, don't think about articles like this. THE END.]]
Method 2:
comfort yourself by repeating: Hey, at least by not keeping up with the literature, the worst I can do is BORE someone. Dr.'s who can't find time to read freaking KILL people.
Method 3:
Not really a solution or method of the kind you're looking for...but a nifty approach/trick:
Pretend all the stuff you read for work [including emails and shit] is fiction/part of a story.
Naturally, it's [probably] not fiction...has real effects. But you're a freaking writer...you can handle 2 levels [at least] at once...right?
[[[and btw...most of the text your receive really IS fiction. Your company, your boss, your team collaborators, your friends? yea...they're telling you stories.
Method 4: take whatever block of time you have set aside for writing, and turn a chunk [about 1/4th or a TINY bit less] into breathing while reading time. don't tell anyone else you're doing this. If you've managed to convince your interrupters NOT to do it when your writing...DON't TELL them this reading time exist. As far as they know, it's writing.
Never commit yourself to writing articles about such topics.
[[1-a...if you do commit yourself to such, the article should say: don't write articles like this, don't read articles like this, don't think about articles like this. THE END.]]
Method 2:
comfort yourself by repeating: Hey, at least by not keeping up with the literature, the worst I can do is BORE someone. Dr.'s who can't find time to read freaking KILL people.
Method 3:
Not really a solution or method of the kind you're looking for...but a nifty approach/trick:
Pretend all the stuff you read for work [including emails and shit] is fiction/part of a story.
Naturally, it's [probably] not fiction...has real effects. But you're a freaking writer...you can handle 2 levels [at least] at once...right?
[[[and btw...most of the text your receive really IS fiction. Your company, your boss, your team collaborators, your friends? yea...they're telling you stories.
Method 4: take whatever block of time you have set aside for writing, and turn a chunk [about 1/4th or a TINY bit less] into breathing while reading time. don't tell anyone else you're doing this. If you've managed to convince your interrupters NOT to do it when your writing...DON't TELL them this reading time exist. As far as they know, it's writing.
[spoiler]Sig-man, Libtard, Stupid piece of shit. change your text color to brown. Mr. Reliable, bullshit-slinging liarFucker-user.[/spoiler]
the difference between evidence and sources: whether they come from the horse's mouth or a horse's ass.
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
the hyperbole is a beauty...for we are then allowed to say a little more than the truth...and language is more efficient when it goes beyond reality than when it stops short of it.
the difference between evidence and sources: whether they come from the horse's mouth or a horse's ass.
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
the hyperbole is a beauty...for we are then allowed to say a little more than the truth...and language is more efficient when it goes beyond reality than when it stops short of it.
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[Syl]
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I have a motto. At least, it's probably the closest thing I have to a motto. "Always carry a book." (a smaller e-reader and/or big pockets helps.) You will always have time to read when you have nothing to read. We spend a lot of time waiting, and a lot of that time, if you have nothing to do, waiting really sucks. But if you have a book... You can always say, "Oh, don't worry about me; I have a book." The end of waiting can often be a disappointment when you have a book.
And I'm not kidding when I say that I walk and read. Through the hall on my way to the break room at work, across the parking lot, etc. It's a skill you have to develop (it helps that I grew up in the desert, in the middle of nowhere, and usually lived a couple miles from friends' houses) and use judiciously.
Last, I'd say stay away from smart phones. They defeat the purpose of always having a book.
And I'm not kidding when I say that I walk and read. Through the hall on my way to the break room at work, across the parking lot, etc. It's a skill you have to develop (it helps that I grew up in the desert, in the middle of nowhere, and usually lived a couple miles from friends' houses) and use judiciously.
Last, I'd say stay away from smart phones. They defeat the purpose of always having a book.
"It is not the literal past that rules us, save, possibly, in a biological sense. It is images of the past. Each new historical era mirrors itself in the picture and active mythology of its past or of a past borrowed from other cultures. It tests its sense of identity, of regress or new achievement against that past.”
-George Steiner
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ussusimiel
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I agree with [Syl], if you always carry a book then any time spent waiting can become a pleasure instead of a pain (so long as the book is good 
). On a bus*, in a doctor's waiting room, in a queue for a tourist attraction**, on a train, a plane, in a car (so long as you're not driving 
), while watching TV*** (during the ads or the boring parts (which can often be a lot of it)), while watching sports, eating (although you really should be 'mindful' and attend to your food), during your lunchbreak, at breakfast, on the toilet (TMI, uss! ), waiting to get a haircut and so on.
There are also audio books which I know lots of people use, especially when they are driving or doing some task that requires movement (jogging, at the gym?!)
Probably the single biggest reducer of reading time is kids. It's not really a good idea to be reading while your offspring are hanging out the window, playing with the traffic, lighting matches or throttling each other
u.
* A couple of years ago I read Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald while I was commuting. It's a brilliant book and I might never have read it except for that time spent travelling.
** I spent an hour recently waiting to go up to the top of the CN Tower in Toronto, the best part of the whole experience was reading my book during that wait. Don't bother going up the CN Tower if there's a queue. There's not a lot to see from it and nothing to do
*** Especially during 'Revenge', 'Suits' and 'The Walking Dead'
). On a bus*, in a doctor's waiting room, in a queue for a tourist attraction**, on a train, a plane, in a car (so long as you're not driving ), while watching TV*** (during the ads or the boring parts (which can often be a lot of it)), while watching sports, eating (although you really should be 'mindful' and attend to your food), during your lunchbreak, at breakfast, on the toilet (TMI, uss! ), waiting to get a haircut and so on.There are also audio books which I know lots of people use, especially when they are driving or doing some task that requires movement (jogging, at the gym?!)
Probably the single biggest reducer of reading time is kids. It's not really a good idea to be reading while your offspring are hanging out the window, playing with the traffic, lighting matches or throttling each other
u.
* A couple of years ago I read Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald while I was commuting. It's a brilliant book and I might never have read it except for that time spent travelling.
** I spent an hour recently waiting to go up to the top of the CN Tower in Toronto, the best part of the whole experience was reading my book during that wait. Don't bother going up the CN Tower if there's a queue. There's not a lot to see from it and nothing to do
*** Especially during 'Revenge', 'Suits' and 'The Walking Dead'
Tho' all the maps of blood and flesh
Are posted on the door,
There's no one who has told us yet
What Boogie Street is for.
Are posted on the door,
There's no one who has told us yet
What Boogie Street is for.
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Vraith
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Heh...I watch that show. It's not good. But I enjoy it anyway.ussusimiel wrote: 'Suits' [/size]
And, related, if I'm watching TV, 99% of the time I'm reading, too.
[spoiler]Sig-man, Libtard, Stupid piece of shit. change your text color to brown. Mr. Reliable, bullshit-slinging liarFucker-user.[/spoiler]
the difference between evidence and sources: whether they come from the horse's mouth or a horse's ass.
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
the hyperbole is a beauty...for we are then allowed to say a little more than the truth...and language is more efficient when it goes beyond reality than when it stops short of it.
the difference between evidence and sources: whether they come from the horse's mouth or a horse's ass.
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
the hyperbole is a beauty...for we are then allowed to say a little more than the truth...and language is more efficient when it goes beyond reality than when it stops short of it.
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ussusimiel
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Yeah, it's like they took 'Mad Men' and said lets make this sleazy and s**tVraith wrote:Heh...I watch that show. It's not good. But I enjoy it anyway.ussusimiel wrote: 'Suits' [/size]
Still there's something greasily compulsive about it, as if you deep-fried the American Dream in waste oil for a month!u.
Tho' all the maps of blood and flesh
Are posted on the door,
There's no one who has told us yet
What Boogie Street is for.
Are posted on the door,
There's no one who has told us yet
What Boogie Street is for.
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aliantha
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It appears I can't edit the poll. Bah. Sorry....Menolly wrote:Can you insert "All of the above" between "Right before sleep" and "None of your business?"
"All of the above" would be my choice, too.
Y'know what makes me crazy? Well, one of the things. It's kind of a long list at this point.... Anyway, y'know what makes me crazy? All the freakin' TV monitors people have installed everywhere! At the doctor's office, in line at the store, etc., etc. It's like advertisers are co-opting all the places we used to use to read or think, and are driving their marketing messages ever deeper into our brains. (There, there, ali. Deep, cleansing breaths...)
(Vraith -- the worst thing about it is that I *volunteered.* How dumb was that?
)EZ Board Survivor
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aliantha
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I almost put "In the bathroom" as one of the poll options, but thought, "Nah, that's TMI...." :lol
EZ Board Survivor
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michaelm
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Most of the time I have for anything is in the evenings once my daughter is in bed and asleep, which is usually by 8:30. I often don't get much time at weekends, either because of taking my daughter to swimming or other events, or because of things that need doing around the house.
The biggest problem is that there is a lot I would like to do in the evenings, and I just don't get time for much of it. I can read a few chapters of a book each evening, or I could play some sort of musical instrument quietly (so most of them are out of the question). I also would like to find time to write a lot more, and keep promising myself I'll start going running in the evenings again.
On top of that I really should spend time with my wife!
I get to read, but not anywhere near as much as I would like.
The biggest problem is that there is a lot I would like to do in the evenings, and I just don't get time for much of it. I can read a few chapters of a book each evening, or I could play some sort of musical instrument quietly (so most of them are out of the question). I also would like to find time to write a lot more, and keep promising myself I'll start going running in the evenings again.
On top of that I really should spend time with my wife!
I get to read, but not anywhere near as much as I would like.
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aTOMiC
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I used to take books around with me everywhere. I am uncomfortable making chit chat with strangers so whenever I used to be standing in line or waiting for various reasons I would pull out whatever book I was reading and get a few pages turned.
Then I got a smart phone. That was the death knell to my reading time. Now whenever I'm stuck standing around somewhere I'm either playing chess or catching up on Facebook. My copies of A Dance With Dragons and The Last Dark are both sitting at home unread although I would greatly like to read them both.
I don't know how to break the hold my phone has on me. I need help.
Then I got a smart phone. That was the death knell to my reading time. Now whenever I'm stuck standing around somewhere I'm either playing chess or catching up on Facebook. My copies of A Dance With Dragons and The Last Dark are both sitting at home unread although I would greatly like to read them both.
I don't know how to break the hold my phone has on me. I need help.
"If you can't tell the difference, what difference does it make?"
"There is tic and toc in atomic" - Neil Peart
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Sorus
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My laundromat has no less than 3 TVs - one usually blaring sports, and the other two featuring soap operas en Español. It wasn't easy, but I have learned to tune all of them out.aliantha wrote:
"All of the above" would be my choice, too.
Oh, a change is coming, feel these doors now closing
Is there no world for tomorrow, if we wait for today?
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aTOMiC
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If only it were that simple. I have books on my phone and even though I have a fairly large phone with a great screen reading a book on the thing just gives me a headache.Menolly wrote:Download books to your phone and read them on there?aTOMiC wrote:I don't know how to break the hold my phone has on me. I need help.
"If you can't tell the difference, what difference does it make?"
"There is tic and toc in atomic" - Neil Peart