Writing and Reading

 Reading.  It's one of my favorite pastimes.  Give me Bradbury, Heinlien, Asimov, Koontz and a host of other sci-fi writers and I could while away a lifetime.  That's fun reading time, and I don't get enough of it.

Then there's necessary reading time.  In our twenty-first century helter skelter life, we must stay on top of as much as possible lest we be left out in the vacuum of writer's space.   We must know the trends for getting out names out there.  We must be as close to the inception of new technology or we won't be able to converse as our audience needs or desires.

I have more necessary reading to do than hours in the day.  Even if I could read it all, I'm not an idiot savant (accused often of the first word there) and I would have no hope of assimilating all the information into usable facts.  The writing climate changes with every new technological breeze that blows these days.  Losing touch with that alone can make you irrelevant fast.

The craft of writing is something all writers should be reading and practicing up on as often as possible.  I have six children and I do well just to get stuff written.  Reading becomes a chore and something left in the wake of the day's excursion through chaos land.  Granted two of the children are grown and out on their own, but this does not make them any less an intrusion on any given day.  Those of you with adult children know what I'm speaking about...

I had a friend in high school who loved the saying, "By perseverance the snail reached the ark."  Perseverance is not my favorite way to read.  Reading under duress reduces my limited comprehension.  When I read, I desire the capability to absorb and retain a useful amount of the text in front of me.  If I walk away from an  hour of reading (ooh, what a luxury that would be!) without much of anything to hang my mental hat on, I'm pissed.  And frustrated.  And demotivated.

Aren't we writers such temperamental beings?  I wish I were a genius level kind of guy who could skim a 500 word textbook and walk away with a 90% retention rate.  I'm just  a poor schmo writer who needs his munchies, drink and time to complete an examination of text and then the ability to apply what he read to his real life existence.

If I were wealthy, I'd simply pay people to verbally inform me of new trends in technology and then that technology that intrigued me would be demonstrated on a daily basis.  I'm not wealthy and I must read.  One day, one fine day, I'll get the time to read all I need as well as all I desire.  That day may only happen in my dreams, but I'll smile nonetheless.