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Once, talking to a councellor*, I was listing the kinds of books I like to read in my spare time (science fiction, fantasy, and romance), and she was like: "you realize those are all very escapist."
Yeah, no shit sherlock. I've known that since I was a pre-teen, though at the time maybe I didn't know the actual word 'escapist'.
In recent years this escapism has developed such that when I'm stressed I go into lock down mode and read some really epic sci-fi/fantasy romance fic. If I can't find any, I look harder. And when I'm finished the first one I find more.
And then suddenly it's 3AM the night before I have to give a practice talk and I don't have my handout finished. *headdesk*
Faced with exactly this situation, some time ago I commented here that I was going to try to stop reading fiction until I could develop a healthier relationship with it. That is slowly moving up my list of priorities, in much the same way that quitting smoking probably figures for other people. While it goes against my character and my upbringing to ever admit that reading less could possibly be a good thing, I am forced to admit that maybe in this case it would be.
In other news, wedding of cousin was very nice, and the caffeine necessary to manage the 7.5 hour drive home is also helpful when it comes to pulling all-nighters.
*Did you know that the 'e' and the second 'l' in this word are both canadianisms? I thought this was one of those words I Just Can't Spell, because despite all my efforts it remained underlined in red by my computer, but it turns out I'm just being oppressed by my resolutely American spell check!
Yeah, no shit sherlock. I've known that since I was a pre-teen, though at the time maybe I didn't know the actual word 'escapist'.
In recent years this escapism has developed such that when I'm stressed I go into lock down mode and read some really epic sci-fi/fantasy romance fic. If I can't find any, I look harder. And when I'm finished the first one I find more.
And then suddenly it's 3AM the night before I have to give a practice talk and I don't have my handout finished. *headdesk*
Faced with exactly this situation, some time ago I commented here that I was going to try to stop reading fiction until I could develop a healthier relationship with it. That is slowly moving up my list of priorities, in much the same way that quitting smoking probably figures for other people. While it goes against my character and my upbringing to ever admit that reading less could possibly be a good thing, I am forced to admit that maybe in this case it would be.
In other news, wedding of cousin was very nice, and the caffeine necessary to manage the 7.5 hour drive home is also helpful when it comes to pulling all-nighters.
*Did you know that the 'e' and the second 'l' in this word are both canadianisms? I thought this was one of those words I Just Can't Spell, because despite all my efforts it remained underlined in red by my computer, but it turns out I'm just being oppressed by my resolutely American spell check!
