On reading
6 short stories stand between me and freedom.
It's so close I can taste it.
Except of course then I have extreme novel reading for the Golden Aurealis to do.
AND then I can read for pleasure.
It occurs to me that I have just been doing extreme short story reading - almost 40 in 4 days (I didn't read anything on the 1st). Phew. It's nice to know I can do it if I have to but I so don't want to be in this position at the end of this year.
I learned a lot though in reading this many stories in such a short time. I learned it's okay to skim a story you're not really enjoying. I can pretty much still give a summary of each story on the read list and a couple of reasons why I didn't like those I didn't. But there's nothing wrong in not immersing yourself in a story you're not that interested in. See for me, when I read for pleasure, I like it to be escapist, I want to be engrossed and lost in it. Heck, who doesn't? But not everything you read is going to grab you that way. Normal people say "meh" and walk away from the book. Life's too short to read books you don't like, isn't it? Me, I'm a completist. It's something I'm working. But for the Year's Best List, I couldn't really walk away. I mean I could but I feel bad about listing stories on the read list if I only made it to the first page. And I'm sure writers want to know that I considered the story as a whole. Although it's rare that a story's ending can really make up for a poor beginning. That shouldn't really rate a 5 on my score system. The breakthrough for me was to realise, yeah I'm not loving this piece, and skim to the end and move on. As a slow reader, it's huge to now look at a 7-12 page story and think, no worries!!!!
So I think I did get faster at reading but I also learned to moderate my pace depending on the level of enjoyment I was gaining from the material. And for someone who is used to giving the same level of reading to everything, that's huge. And a definite payoff for the exercise.
It's so close I can taste it.
Except of course then I have extreme novel reading for the Golden Aurealis to do.
AND then I can read for pleasure.
It occurs to me that I have just been doing extreme short story reading - almost 40 in 4 days (I didn't read anything on the 1st). Phew. It's nice to know I can do it if I have to but I so don't want to be in this position at the end of this year.
I learned a lot though in reading this many stories in such a short time. I learned it's okay to skim a story you're not really enjoying. I can pretty much still give a summary of each story on the read list and a couple of reasons why I didn't like those I didn't. But there's nothing wrong in not immersing yourself in a story you're not that interested in. See for me, when I read for pleasure, I like it to be escapist, I want to be engrossed and lost in it. Heck, who doesn't? But not everything you read is going to grab you that way. Normal people say "meh" and walk away from the book. Life's too short to read books you don't like, isn't it? Me, I'm a completist. It's something I'm working. But for the Year's Best List, I couldn't really walk away. I mean I could but I feel bad about listing stories on the read list if I only made it to the first page. And I'm sure writers want to know that I considered the story as a whole. Although it's rare that a story's ending can really make up for a poor beginning. That shouldn't really rate a 5 on my score system. The breakthrough for me was to realise, yeah I'm not loving this piece, and skim to the end and move on. As a slow reader, it's huge to now look at a 7-12 page story and think, no worries!!!!
So I think I did get faster at reading but I also learned to moderate my pace depending on the level of enjoyment I was gaining from the material. And for someone who is used to giving the same level of reading to everything, that's huge. And a definite payoff for the exercise.