to read, to write

i’ve been parching my soul and i didnt realize it until it was all but dry. when was the last time i lost myself in a book? when was the last time that i’ve found some wondrous inspiration or words of wisdom? when was the last time i stretched my mind into creating another world inside the pages? i miss the pages. i miss the lines and lines of text. i miss the mystery, the excitement. i miss the revelations and ideas. i miss the smell of the spine as it cracks open, i miss the feel of the pages. i miss the satisfaction of placing the book on the shelf, completed, awaiting another day to be rediscovered yet again. i miss falling in love with one and reading it over and over and over. at the start of this year, this was where i was. slowly, i began purchasing new books, rediscovering old ones, slowly making time to read yet again.

the fourth book {if we’re pretending for a moment that the four twilight books dont count as acceptable reading} that i made my way through is a book called “bird by bird” by anne lamott. i could try to be all artsy and original here and say i found the book in a bookstore while trying to better myself, but i came upon this book through jasmine star’s blog post about books she recommends. one day i will be able to have my own reading list that i can be all artsy and say that i found them all on my own. but until then, i’m perfectly content just going off of the recommendations of another. one thing i love about reading books from a list is that you’re never entirely sure what you’re getting in to. you’re not 100% sure of the topic or even the view of the author. are they a believer, an atheist? are they crazy or only partly sane? are they creative or stale and dry? but when you buy a book, you commit to it. if you didnt want to commit to it, you’d go to a library. when i committed to reading bird by bird, i knew it was a book on writing, but that was the extent of my knowledge. i didnt know that it was a book that would turn me on to writing again; to have a real voice and distinct style. i didnt know that it would have the most interested of “homework assignments” or that it would make me sit down and write about nothing.

of of these days, i’ll share some of my “much ado about nothing”…or in other words, my writing about nothing. maybe i’ll turn it into a series. maybe i’ll ask for your recommendation and reading lists, maybe i’ll start to share my own. maybe.

dwell in possibility…