Hi Stephanie, thank you for this! I started reading Didion because of you! Can't wait to read your essay. My question is: How do you prioritise reading? I have been struggling with that lately. Warm hug!
Let's pretend for a moment that reading was an activity essential to your health. Not a hobby, not a leisure pursuit, but you actually need that kind of exercise. Like pilates, yoga, walking. Which means you have to schedule it. You have to say, I'm going to read for an hour on Wednesday at 2pm. Or I'm going to pick up the kids late from preschool so I can read for 90 min. That's the only real advice I have. I always say I read so much because I don't watch tv, but that's not all of it. I really can't do my job if I'm not reading. Everything I write is rote, reliant on a proven formula. I know how hard it is - I don't have time to exercise if that makes you feel better - but I think it's about changing your attitude toward your books. Maybe they are just for flights, vacations, audiobooks on drives (that's also a kind of reading, though I almost always prefer paper), or maybe they're essential to your health and you have to say, Sorry I can't join you for a coffee today, I'm reading. xx
Oh my gosh, you have a Substack!!! I've just bookmarked your Joan Didion post and can't wait to delve into it this evening. I have to confess I've actually never read her... eek. But I'm eager to read about her through your lens.
Books, books!! I was just thinking about Sweetbitter the other day actually and referenced it in one of my recent Substack posts, "Confessions of a Restaurant Hostess."
Eager to have my inner life back, too. Beautifully said.
Stephanie, I’m thrilled you’ve started a newsletter, congrats! If you have time in your question series, I would love to know (as a fellow working writer who struggles to find words on demand) how you deal with the push-pull of focus and procrastination? Thank you! Rachael
The poet Jane Hirschfield was just on the Ezra Klein show, and she talked about purposive consciousness. This consciousness that allows us to get shit done. That understands means, ends, goals. She says that the place she writes from IS NOT THAT. And that she needs a separation. This is something my husband is always struggling to understand. If I have an hour and a half before my dr appointment, can't I work on my book? No I cannot! I wish I could. But I need strong brackets around my writing time. Which leads me to schedule an entire day (currently it's Thursdays) just for writing. No phone calls, no therapy, no social life. It's a writing day. I hope to be someone who can just put "do not disturb" on my phone for two hours and bust out 1k words - it's not implausible. But I generally think the writing that comes from that (for me) is reactive rather than responsive. xx
Hi Stephanie, thank you for this! I started reading Didion because of you! Can't wait to read your essay. My question is: How do you prioritise reading? I have been struggling with that lately. Warm hug!
Let's pretend for a moment that reading was an activity essential to your health. Not a hobby, not a leisure pursuit, but you actually need that kind of exercise. Like pilates, yoga, walking. Which means you have to schedule it. You have to say, I'm going to read for an hour on Wednesday at 2pm. Or I'm going to pick up the kids late from preschool so I can read for 90 min. That's the only real advice I have. I always say I read so much because I don't watch tv, but that's not all of it. I really can't do my job if I'm not reading. Everything I write is rote, reliant on a proven formula. I know how hard it is - I don't have time to exercise if that makes you feel better - but I think it's about changing your attitude toward your books. Maybe they are just for flights, vacations, audiobooks on drives (that's also a kind of reading, though I almost always prefer paper), or maybe they're essential to your health and you have to say, Sorry I can't join you for a coffee today, I'm reading. xx
This is so exciting! Day, week, month, year MADE.
Well yay!
Oh my gosh, you have a Substack!!! I've just bookmarked your Joan Didion post and can't wait to delve into it this evening. I have to confess I've actually never read her... eek. But I'm eager to read about her through your lens.
Books, books!! I was just thinking about Sweetbitter the other day actually and referenced it in one of my recent Substack posts, "Confessions of a Restaurant Hostess."
Eager to have my inner life back, too. Beautifully said.
I'll check yours out! xx
Stephanie, I’m thrilled you’ve started a newsletter, congrats! If you have time in your question series, I would love to know (as a fellow working writer who struggles to find words on demand) how you deal with the push-pull of focus and procrastination? Thank you! Rachael
The poet Jane Hirschfield was just on the Ezra Klein show, and she talked about purposive consciousness. This consciousness that allows us to get shit done. That understands means, ends, goals. She says that the place she writes from IS NOT THAT. And that she needs a separation. This is something my husband is always struggling to understand. If I have an hour and a half before my dr appointment, can't I work on my book? No I cannot! I wish I could. But I need strong brackets around my writing time. Which leads me to schedule an entire day (currently it's Thursdays) just for writing. No phone calls, no therapy, no social life. It's a writing day. I hope to be someone who can just put "do not disturb" on my phone for two hours and bust out 1k words - it's not implausible. But I generally think the writing that comes from that (for me) is reactive rather than responsive. xx
^ RT