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Some writers have sacrificed their families and marriages, discarding them along with their empty rattling Wendy’s cups in a ditch on the road to publication. Others have defaced their bodily temples with amphetamines , cocaine and hallucinogenic drugs by the handfuls. Still others have forsook the entire human race to pour their hearts into various magnum opera. And there are those who gave their lives for their work.
Me, I’m making the ultimate sacrifice. What? No, not that ultimate sacrifice. It’s hard to write when your flesh is distributed amongst the worms and insects.
No, I’m giving up reading.
Seems kind of sacrilegious, but I think I must do this thing if I am to make significant headway on my third draft. I’ve been moving along, but I need to go into deep cover and live the manuscript.
To that end, my evenings of reading for two, three, or four hours are done for now. The only reading I’ll be doing will be here:
Reading is in my top five things that I love to do. I’ll miss it. Tim Powers and The Anubis Gates will have to wait. Hopefully I’ll be back on the written sauce sometime in mid August.
I think I need to give up the internet. I already feel like I am letting all my bloggy friends down as it is, but writing is more important. Sigh.
No doubt. I promised myself I would keep blogging, though. One post a week about writerly things and one coffee break post. So far, I’ve been able to do that okay. I still try to limit my online time. Your bloggy friends will still love you when you return ;-). This writing gig would be sweet if it weren’t for all the damn writing…
Good luck! I’d rather give up blogging than reading. If I’m ever going to finish the novel I’m working on, I’ll probably have to give up both.
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I have to do the same thing, Jonathan. Especially when my novel starts to roll, I have to cut way back on my reading. However, while I’m in that in-between phase between AutTale and Guillermo, I’ve been gorging myself on all the books I’ve missed (and TV programs). For me, it’s not so much a matter of focus as it is a time issue (there are only so many hours in my day).
One word to the wise though, never, never, NEVER, read a Sarah Waters novel while either writing or editing your own novel. Talk about inferiority complexes! ;-D
I love the in-between book binge! I’m already lining up a few things for when I’m reading again. Duly noted about the Sarah Waters thing 😉
Hi Jonathan! wow – what a thing to find after so much time has passed since I have visited – cutback on reading! I am sad for you…but you have a deadline for this non reading period of August – I hope you are very productive over the next few weeks. All the best with your ms!
PS. I am enjoying coffee again 🙂
Yay for coffee! I’m okay with for a little while if it means getting this draft done. I had originally set a deadline for a month ago, soooo……Thanks for the encouragement!