Reading, writing, but no rithmatic
Apr. 27th, 2020 11:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
glitch25Not really in specific relation to virus-related stuff, but just as a general thing, I've been trying to push forward my reading. Reading for me sometimes requires a push. It is not a way that my brain likes to consume media, and I find that I struggle a lot with keeping momentum. Once in a while, a book will capture me and I'll suck it down as fast as I can squirrel away time to read it, and others... languish on the virtual shelf, rarely to be touched.
I'm learning to be ok with letting go of unfinished books. Sometimes I start one and think it should be great, and then I find that I'm knee deep into it and struggle to make it past another page. A part of me has always seemed to want to push me to finish it, but it conflicts with the part that summons the energy to do it. These days, when I find that those forces are strongly opposing, I just put the book down and "let it go". I've been making more effort to deliberately feel ok about cutting lose a stagnant reading prospect. On the flip side, it does mean that if I want to read, I'm still having to hunt for replacements. Sometimes that takes more spoons than I want to devote as well.
Reading seems like a good distraction to the regular day-to-day we have, so I've been consolidating and pushing around finding new materials. I cleared out my virtual shelf. I also got a temp SPL card so that I can check out ebooks. I always felt weird about using a library to read, because I read so slow, but I realized that it's mostly ok. If need be, I can reserve a book for longer, or if I find that I need something else, I can let it go and come back to it later. It took a while to get my head on straight with that one. There is this significant obligation-complex in my head that says that because I touched it, I have to finish it before I move on, and I'm working hard to break it since what I get in return is guilt and bad feelings about getting stuck instead of some sense of accomplishment for having dragged myself through it. The state of the world has me trying to be a little more choosy about where I put my emotional energy since it is running in shorter supply.
What specifically is on the plate, you might ask? I'm reading another book by Stephen Baxter (author of a lovely apocalyptic series that starts with "Flood") called "Proxima" about mankind sending explorers to a new planet found in a different system that appears to be habitable and Earth-like. This in response to the Earth-is-dying story. And how some people sent on this mission to begin to colonize a new world are not all there of their own free will. Totally up my alley, and I'm liking it so far. Also, after having a really good time with the latest movie iteration of Little Women, I decided I needed to read the book, since I hadn't. Also liking that one as well, and enjoying the way the newest movie followed it.
I'm also investigating options to scan paper books I have so that I can put them into ebook form for myself. I've NEVER been fond of paper books, and I'd rather go throuh the hassle of scanning them (for those, of course, that don't exist in an ebook format yet or ever) than sit with them and page through them. It's an odd thing, but I'm comfortable knowing it and working through it. :-) I had had a good setup in the past, and then had to format my laptop, so now I have to figure out what apps I was using. I had found some nifty open source apps that do both page photograph corrections (to adjust bend, skew, and text curve) and also to do the OCR. I even had built a test ebook that was working out really well. But now of course I have to figure it all out again. There was a rig floating around in my Facebook ads that automates a lot of that process, and it was extremely tempting. When I don't have to watch every penny I spend, I may consider it if just for the purposes of scanning documents and other old papers and certificates.
Something else I've been looking into is ebook comics. I found an app that allows me to look at regular syndicated comics, but I've also been considering looking into the big chains for digital comic books and the like. Never was much into comic books, but I really enjoy the stories that have been translated into movies, and I want to see if I can convince myself to get past my issues with the format and enjoy the source materials. Time will tell.
How about you? What written/graphic material are you consuming these days, and how do you feel about it?
More info about the "writing" bit later. :-)
I'm learning to be ok with letting go of unfinished books. Sometimes I start one and think it should be great, and then I find that I'm knee deep into it and struggle to make it past another page. A part of me has always seemed to want to push me to finish it, but it conflicts with the part that summons the energy to do it. These days, when I find that those forces are strongly opposing, I just put the book down and "let it go". I've been making more effort to deliberately feel ok about cutting lose a stagnant reading prospect. On the flip side, it does mean that if I want to read, I'm still having to hunt for replacements. Sometimes that takes more spoons than I want to devote as well.
Reading seems like a good distraction to the regular day-to-day we have, so I've been consolidating and pushing around finding new materials. I cleared out my virtual shelf. I also got a temp SPL card so that I can check out ebooks. I always felt weird about using a library to read, because I read so slow, but I realized that it's mostly ok. If need be, I can reserve a book for longer, or if I find that I need something else, I can let it go and come back to it later. It took a while to get my head on straight with that one. There is this significant obligation-complex in my head that says that because I touched it, I have to finish it before I move on, and I'm working hard to break it since what I get in return is guilt and bad feelings about getting stuck instead of some sense of accomplishment for having dragged myself through it. The state of the world has me trying to be a little more choosy about where I put my emotional energy since it is running in shorter supply.
What specifically is on the plate, you might ask? I'm reading another book by Stephen Baxter (author of a lovely apocalyptic series that starts with "Flood") called "Proxima" about mankind sending explorers to a new planet found in a different system that appears to be habitable and Earth-like. This in response to the Earth-is-dying story. And how some people sent on this mission to begin to colonize a new world are not all there of their own free will. Totally up my alley, and I'm liking it so far. Also, after having a really good time with the latest movie iteration of Little Women, I decided I needed to read the book, since I hadn't. Also liking that one as well, and enjoying the way the newest movie followed it.
I'm also investigating options to scan paper books I have so that I can put them into ebook form for myself. I've NEVER been fond of paper books, and I'd rather go throuh the hassle of scanning them (for those, of course, that don't exist in an ebook format yet or ever) than sit with them and page through them. It's an odd thing, but I'm comfortable knowing it and working through it. :-) I had had a good setup in the past, and then had to format my laptop, so now I have to figure out what apps I was using. I had found some nifty open source apps that do both page photograph corrections (to adjust bend, skew, and text curve) and also to do the OCR. I even had built a test ebook that was working out really well. But now of course I have to figure it all out again. There was a rig floating around in my Facebook ads that automates a lot of that process, and it was extremely tempting. When I don't have to watch every penny I spend, I may consider it if just for the purposes of scanning documents and other old papers and certificates.
Something else I've been looking into is ebook comics. I found an app that allows me to look at regular syndicated comics, but I've also been considering looking into the big chains for digital comic books and the like. Never was much into comic books, but I really enjoy the stories that have been translated into movies, and I want to see if I can convince myself to get past my issues with the format and enjoy the source materials. Time will tell.
How about you? What written/graphic material are you consuming these days, and how do you feel about it?
More info about the "writing" bit later. :-)