When I lived in Seattle in the 1990s there was a political group called Citizens for More Important Things - I feel like they would be helpful in redirecting people's attention about what women of any age should be or not be doing.
Geezus, the legs. And you're 100% correct that it's not the walking, as I walk around 10 miles a day (or a little less when the time gets away from me) and my legs do not look like that. However, my bedroom looks remarkably like yours (except for the pile of stuffed animals, where I have instead a pile of hand creams).
Good for you, Laura, life is too short not to read for pure pleasure, we're long past 'homework reads' & seriously, YOUR books are always a pleasure read (I do imagine my h.s English teacher Mr. Thomas assigning a 500 word report on In a Strange City--"What is the author telling us about Poe?"--what fun that would have been!) Also as a lifelong 'horse girl'--I'm more Mary Fred than Beany-- I'd have gladly traded you for those 7 unwanted library books, swapping for the disappointing ones *I* once took on a family vacay! As an adult who should know about books/judging/covers--I once checked out a library book w/the most beauteous palomino on the front, not even flipping the flap to see what it was about. Titled "Palomino" what ELSE would it be about? Well duh, author Danielle Steele was not a horse girl & I did not care about a ROmance of boring humans when I hoped to read the tale of a gorgeous wild palomino, horse of my dreams! Life's too short not to read for pleasure instead of punishment!
Laura, You will miss walking b/c you will miss the cogitating that naturally occurs during it. I'm sure that cogitating has been crucial to your novel writing.
I do all my best thinking when walking, which I'm sure is true of most all of us.
I made a mid year pact in 2023 to read a book a month. I'm impressed with your goal of close to one a week. Your blog reminded me how as a child my mother -and the librarian - would try to dissuade me from checking out the maximum number of books from the library. But I would often prevail, read them all, return them on time, and repeat. I'm still a page turner. Reading nourishes me. Congrats on all your success.
This brought up a memory a vacation to Cancun when I was 9. Between my mother and I, we had a whole additional suitcase filled with books, dubbed "the literary suitcase." I'm not sure my pile of Babysitter's Club and Boxcar Children books quite lived up to that moniker, but at least I did enjoy the subject matter. It's comical to remember we went through the effort of hauling this non-wheeled suitcase through customs just to be sure we didn't run out of reading material, a scenario that would almost assuredly not happen in contemporary times thanks to e-readers and financial absurdity of checking a second bag for an international flight.
Even though it's on a screen, Substack has been helping me rehab my reading brain in a way! I much prefer a book in my hands and I've been diving back into them this last year -- But I also see myself get distracted easily, choose not to pickup my book in favor of something with a quicker hit, or start to skim out of social media brain habits and a developed lack of tolerance for long writing (even though that's literally all I personally write - can't stick to a word count for the life of me).
Substack has been rehabbing the part of my brain that has been skimming. When I was first on here, I didn't read a single full post, I skimmed. It was my default. But now I read all of the words. I'm excited when a post is long and full of detail and depth to get sucked into. AND my brain has less tolerance for social media because of it's lack of depth! Hooray!
Re-adding paper books to the mix to continue my rehab. Glad to be alongside you in the journey. You've inspired me to look at the unreads on my shelf. ❤️
I love the self deprecating aside--- "But to be clear, with me, failure is always an option." Kudos on making the WSJ Best of List. I can't wait to dig into Prom Mom. Finally, great legs. Our moms must be related. People think because I'm a triathlete, I have killer legs. I explain that's 20% of it. The main reason is that I chose the right mother.
I’m reading War & Peace in the read a long as well. It’s a re-read for me. I hope you love it. The first time I read it, I started reading and thought maybe I’ll finish this door stop. By the time it was finished, I was genuinely sad there was no sequel.
I have gotten back into treadmill time for brisk walking and an ebook when I can, since it's icy and gross most of the winter here, though I still can't tell whether it's set in km or mi so I just record the minutes LOL
Hey! I also want to read the books I haven’t read but are on my shelf only for me it’s all the shelf and not just one little nook because my house is teeny tiny itty bitty and already we have too many books. I love this goal and hope we both succeed or don’t but have fun trying!
I think (actually maybe) that one of yours is one on my shelf but yet to be read and I picked it up at a little free library so, sorry for not supporting your daughters Sephora habit but also I probably will someday soon because I’m loving this Substack.
Walking. A small aberration in your annual daily walking average should get a pass. The drive and discipline to keep active is what counts. You will prevail.
"The economy of publishing depends on people buying more books than they can read."
This should be emblazoned on the door of every bookstore on the planet.
When I lived in Seattle in the 1990s there was a political group called Citizens for More Important Things - I feel like they would be helpful in redirecting people's attention about what women of any age should be or not be doing.
Geezus, the legs. And you're 100% correct that it's not the walking, as I walk around 10 miles a day (or a little less when the time gets away from me) and my legs do not look like that. However, my bedroom looks remarkably like yours (except for the pile of stuffed animals, where I have instead a pile of hand creams).
Good for you, Laura, life is too short not to read for pure pleasure, we're long past 'homework reads' & seriously, YOUR books are always a pleasure read (I do imagine my h.s English teacher Mr. Thomas assigning a 500 word report on In a Strange City--"What is the author telling us about Poe?"--what fun that would have been!) Also as a lifelong 'horse girl'--I'm more Mary Fred than Beany-- I'd have gladly traded you for those 7 unwanted library books, swapping for the disappointing ones *I* once took on a family vacay! As an adult who should know about books/judging/covers--I once checked out a library book w/the most beauteous palomino on the front, not even flipping the flap to see what it was about. Titled "Palomino" what ELSE would it be about? Well duh, author Danielle Steele was not a horse girl & I did not care about a ROmance of boring humans when I hoped to read the tale of a gorgeous wild palomino, horse of my dreams! Life's too short not to read for pleasure instead of punishment!
Laura, You will miss walking b/c you will miss the cogitating that naturally occurs during it. I'm sure that cogitating has been crucial to your novel writing.
I do all my best thinking when walking, which I'm sure is true of most all of us.
I made a mid year pact in 2023 to read a book a month. I'm impressed with your goal of close to one a week. Your blog reminded me how as a child my mother -and the librarian - would try to dissuade me from checking out the maximum number of books from the library. But I would often prevail, read them all, return them on time, and repeat. I'm still a page turner. Reading nourishes me. Congrats on all your success.
This brought up a memory a vacation to Cancun when I was 9. Between my mother and I, we had a whole additional suitcase filled with books, dubbed "the literary suitcase." I'm not sure my pile of Babysitter's Club and Boxcar Children books quite lived up to that moniker, but at least I did enjoy the subject matter. It's comical to remember we went through the effort of hauling this non-wheeled suitcase through customs just to be sure we didn't run out of reading material, a scenario that would almost assuredly not happen in contemporary times thanks to e-readers and financial absurdity of checking a second bag for an international flight.
Even though it's on a screen, Substack has been helping me rehab my reading brain in a way! I much prefer a book in my hands and I've been diving back into them this last year -- But I also see myself get distracted easily, choose not to pickup my book in favor of something with a quicker hit, or start to skim out of social media brain habits and a developed lack of tolerance for long writing (even though that's literally all I personally write - can't stick to a word count for the life of me).
Substack has been rehabbing the part of my brain that has been skimming. When I was first on here, I didn't read a single full post, I skimmed. It was my default. But now I read all of the words. I'm excited when a post is long and full of detail and depth to get sucked into. AND my brain has less tolerance for social media because of it's lack of depth! Hooray!
Re-adding paper books to the mix to continue my rehab. Glad to be alongside you in the journey. You've inspired me to look at the unreads on my shelf. ❤️
I love the self deprecating aside--- "But to be clear, with me, failure is always an option." Kudos on making the WSJ Best of List. I can't wait to dig into Prom Mom. Finally, great legs. Our moms must be related. People think because I'm a triathlete, I have killer legs. I explain that's 20% of it. The main reason is that I chose the right mother.
You are NOT old! Believe me.
I’m reading War & Peace in the read a long as well. It’s a re-read for me. I hope you love it. The first time I read it, I started reading and thought maybe I’ll finish this door stop. By the time it was finished, I was genuinely sad there was no sequel.
I have gotten back into treadmill time for brisk walking and an ebook when I can, since it's icy and gross most of the winter here, though I still can't tell whether it's set in km or mi so I just record the minutes LOL
Hey! I also want to read the books I haven’t read but are on my shelf only for me it’s all the shelf and not just one little nook because my house is teeny tiny itty bitty and already we have too many books. I love this goal and hope we both succeed or don’t but have fun trying!
I think (actually maybe) that one of yours is one on my shelf but yet to be read and I picked it up at a little free library so, sorry for not supporting your daughters Sephora habit but also I probably will someday soon because I’m loving this Substack.
I wish my legs looked that good!
Walking. A small aberration in your annual daily walking average should get a pass. The drive and discipline to keep active is what counts. You will prevail.
There’s a Japanese word for acquiring more books than we can read: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsundoku