"putting multiple books in conversation with each other"—love this! I think that's what I am moving towards doing, too. It certainly deepens your thinking and the richness you can create; it comes through as one of the strengths in your writing.
Seven books a month is still an impressive number (remembering this to remind myself that it i…
"putting multiple books in conversation with each other"—love this! I think that's what I am moving towards doing, too. It certainly deepens your thinking and the richness you can create; it comes through as one of the strengths in your writing.
Basically, I don't have Tiktok on my phone; rarely watch YouTube videos (maybe 2 a week, max); I hate TV; and my daily average screen time for Instagram (which I do use to DM friends and keep up with events!) is 15 minutes or so. I didn't really grow up with TV, so I have zero attention span for video content…it is actually more fatiguing for me to watch a 5 minute video than read a 5,000 word essay.
This actually frees up SO much time for reading!!!!! And I'll bring an e-reader or physical book with me whenever I leave the house
Screens are the biggest distractions! Once you eliminate them, there is so much time available.
What you wrote tracks with my experience, though. I usually max out at 4-5 books per month (most likely) because once I finish one, I take a pause to gather my thoughts and write a little bit about it. If I start with the next one, it detracts my mind from the writing and then I am jumping between two world without being able to inhabit either one fully.
"putting multiple books in conversation with each other"—love this! I think that's what I am moving towards doing, too. It certainly deepens your thinking and the richness you can create; it comes through as one of the strengths in your writing.
Seven books a month is still an impressive number (remembering this to remind myself that it is possible). Do you then, perhaps, relate with this: https://pandorasykes.substack.com/p/but-how-do-you-read-so-much
(Thank you for such a detailed response; it felt like a delicious appetizer).
I relate a lot to Sykes's post (though I don't have kids! not even a dog or cat or houseplant…) and also Jordan Santos's post about how she reads so much https://jordanrisa.substack.com/p/where-i-find-the-time-to-read
Basically, I don't have Tiktok on my phone; rarely watch YouTube videos (maybe 2 a week, max); I hate TV; and my daily average screen time for Instagram (which I do use to DM friends and keep up with events!) is 15 minutes or so. I didn't really grow up with TV, so I have zero attention span for video content…it is actually more fatiguing for me to watch a 5 minute video than read a 5,000 word essay.
This actually frees up SO much time for reading!!!!! And I'll bring an e-reader or physical book with me whenever I leave the house
Screens are the biggest distractions! Once you eliminate them, there is so much time available.
What you wrote tracks with my experience, though. I usually max out at 4-5 books per month (most likely) because once I finish one, I take a pause to gather my thoughts and write a little bit about it. If I start with the next one, it detracts my mind from the writing and then I am jumping between two world without being able to inhabit either one fully.