reading through the alphabet (an intro)

I decided, arbitrarily, in October, to read through the alphabet. There is so much noise in my head that whenever any coherent thought bursts its way through, I tend to do whatever it says (see, also cat ear hair clips).

Like many attempts, however, X stumped me. I don’t have much interest in X-men and most other books starting with X seem to be about vampires in outer space. There is an Edith Wharton collection that starts with X (Xingu), so why don’t I read that? 1. I have to find a cord to connect my Kobo to the computer and I’m too lazy to do that and 2. I have to spend today finishing up Z (Zoo Station, which is really Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo and only in a newer translation is Zoo Station) and the chances of me doing that rather than pissing the day away b staring vapidly at the grey weather outside is very low. Vanishingly. Epsilon low.

Now I have to decide how to list this. All books in alphabetical order? A canonical example for each letter? Keep reading and see.

why don’t I like non-fiction?

I read a non-fiction book that didn’t involve Nazis! I feel I should give myself an award for that.

But I didn’t like reading it. Why? Why don’t I like reading non-fiction? Is it I pick non-fiction books that are, in terms of literary writing, not literary? Why am I so obsessed with plot? Why don’t I like reality even a little bit?

Why am I writing this meaningless post instead of proofing my short story collection?

I don’t know anything.

what I did over summer vacation

I wrote.

I wrote about one short story a week, more or less.

And now, sadly, comes the editing. Perhaps in a week or two I’ll have a nice little e-chapbook to share with you.

I did have a writing partner, who also tried to write one short story a week. It was a bit like school. I miss school and the deadlines and the expectations to do work. By myself, I do very little work because I am easily distracted and I get migraines and now I work in my basement since COVID which means a whole new set of distractions I have to learn how to avoid (I’m right next to my sewing machine now. Do you know how many things I could sew? Neither do I!)

In any case, the worst part of writing is whatever step you are on currently.