On Another Note

Have you ever wished you could read more but feel like you don't have time? I've come up with a new system to do that recently.

I used to be an avid reader. I have more books than I have shelf space to hold. I have my own mini-library. I'd buy interesting history books as well as Star Trek novels. And books on writing, languages, Christianity, and yes, some self-help.

But they'd languish on the shelves, especially since the MegaStress. But lately, after several months post-wedding, I'm getting back in the groove. (The fact that I can't do a lot of other stuff because of my hands doesn't hurt, but it really doesn't have as much to do with that as you might think.)

I read different books at different times or places. And I've found that I can plow through these books pretty fast even if I only read for a few minutes at a time. Right now, I'm reading 3 different books (not including my text book for my travel agent training).

Now, not everyone can mentally handle 3 books at once, I realize. But like following multiple TV shows and characters, I can do that. So I can retain what I read one day from one book to the next time I get there for the most part, and same with the other books.

Also, some books read slower than others. Novels tend to read faster. I can read a Star Trek novel in a day, given nothing else to do. It would take longer to read a history book with the same number of pages.

So here's how I do it. I read a history book during breakfast. It stays on the dining room table with all my pills and vitamins I take at breakfast. And all I usually have for breakfast is a Slimfast shake. So I get maybe 10 minutes, tops. Since I started this, I've read a book about American POWs in the Berga concentration camp, a companion book to a documentary miniseries about Auschwitz, a very large book about the Annenerbe, and I'm nearly finished with one about the liberation of Bergen-Belsen.

I also have a book I take with me to work. Let's face it, I have Crohn's. When I go to the restroom, I may be in there awhile. Why be bored? So it has to be a pocket novel. Something I can surreptitiously take with me. I've read a Star Wars trilogy, several Star Trek novels and a mystery novel based on an assassination attempt on the King and Queen of England in 1939 and am now reading another mystery/adventure book set during WWII.

I keep a book in my car. That one doesn't get read as often, but, say I have a doctor's appointment. I'll take that book with me. Now, when I'm sitting in the waiting room, waiting to be called, I can read that book. That's presently a book on freelance writing.

It's a cool system that is letting me get through my mini-library, finally. There are a lot of books there I'm been hoping to find time to read someday. And I really shouldn't have typed this with my hands. I've worn them out and they hurt.

Alas, if not for the speech typer

If you're wondering why I haven't written while this time, the answer is that I have. Or at least my secret identity has. The problem is that I can't type much. Or write with a pen much. Something is wrong with my hands.

It doesn't appear to be carpal tunnel syndrome. I have been tested for that and my nerve function is 100%. They've put me on anti-inflammatories that did nothing. And just recently I was given x-rays and MRIs at a rheumatologist's office. We will know for at least another week. My hands have been hurting since May or June.

For a while, I could write with a pen, and I saw my secret identity actually got quite a lot written. I even tried to write a little bit of The Honored and some drafts of articles about adoption and computers. I also wrote a very short CSI piece after the recent episode, 'Fannysmackin', called Into the Deep End

Now, though, it hurts to hold a pen. So if I'm going to write, it will have to be by speech typing. Even the best software has issues and will misrecognize a lot of words. Most of those I will catch, but it makes for a slow process. I have composed with it in the past, I just don't feel it is my most creative media at this time. It's just a feeling. It comes that goes. Sometimes if I can't get the juices to flow in one medium, I'll switch to another. Paper and pen, Clié, computer, speech typing. Right now I feel most creative with pen and paper. Computer would probably be second. Clié would then be third. If the inspiration isn't just flowing, speech typing is too slow and requires too much correction, making it seem slower.

So I procrastinate. Writing stories and writing this blog. I miss my hands.

Status of Stories

• Into the Deep End: finished. Posted to fanfiction.net
  
• secret penname's story: currently needing to speech-type Chapter 7
  
• The Honored: still on chapter 2
  
• Purgatory: where it has been for years