Purpose

There are multiple purposes for this blog. First, I'd like to share with you how mental illness can interfere with or enhance the writer's life. Second, I want to explore a more disciplined approach to the writing life. This blog will hold me accountable as I navigate story throughout my battle with mental illness.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Reading Routine Redux

Once upon a time, I had a certain plan in place to help me get through some of my books and to read widely.
I never implemented that plan and instead, my ADD and OCD get in the way, and I can't focus enough to start anything at times.

I am now reinstating that plan which is... to alternate reading 3 books at a time. One can be a nonfiction book about writing, one fiction novel (usually similar to my writing which is scifi), and one general nonfiction book. The non-writing nonfiction I have in mind is about Eastern religions or philosophy.

The only time I can stray from this is if I need to read books for research on my WIP.

Here are my 3 books I'm working on now:

Writing - How to be a Writer by Barbara Baig
Nonfiction - Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E Frankl
Fiction - Fools' Experiments by Edward M Lerner

Do you have some kind reading guideline similar to this? What do you think about this approach?

2 comments:

  1. I'd be interested in seeing a follow-up post as to whether this works well for you or not.

    I have tried reading several simultaneous books in the past, but it never works for me. I always abandon the other books and only follow one to completion. So for now, I follow one book at a time. If this does work, though, I'd also like to see tips because if I read this many books I get distracted and may even forget the characters in a fiction book.

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  2. uh oh! I've got to be accountable now. It's not easy for me to read this way. I've tried before and it didn't work out. However, it would be efficient if I can pull it off. I'll definitely give you tips if I'm successful.

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