Which Way to the Yelling Room?

Pressure provides an excellent motivator in almost all things.  You want to be pushed to do more, excel in what you can, and try your hardest in all you do.

At least until everything starts to pile up and you need to scream.

You know, to relieve tension and such.

Since college I have learned to not only work well under the pressure of a dozen things going on at once, but also learned how to thrive when it happens.  The upside was that even with getting sick (this was pre-transplant), long hours for school studies, and what I will term "wacky" scheduling from the management of my old retail job; I was getting things done.  I was working on my writing, doing the odd freelance job, and trying to keep up the cleanliness of my home.  The only downside, it seemed, was that things would come crashing down the minute I was hospitalized and too sick to work on projects.  Naturally, all the juggling balls don't juggle themselves, and the moment you step away everything falls apart.  However, nearly 5 years away from that liver transplant, and I realize that something else was happening during those years when I had so much going on.

I was getting hooked on having too much to do.

Odd thing to say, but I think it is possible to get addicted to having a full to the brim plate of ideas, projects, and chores to work on.  On the one hand, it keeps you from being lazy and you are forced to not waste time.  On the other hand, you never really have free time to relax, so you can get hyper stressed at the drop of a hat.  I have decided I would like the best of both worlds, please?

I need to have that pressure to keep me working, keep me on task, but not so much that I wish I had a third bedroom at home just so I could have protracted screaming sessions to alleviate stress.  What I want is knowing that I have things to do during the day, but at the end of the day have accomplished them for the most part.   Funny thing, this is more type A then type B.  I guess my type B tendecies come out in that I am always thinking of something new and exciting to do--but the type A side pops in and says it must be done by day's end or I've failed to get things done for the day.   I want to have a day where I don't feel rushed, but also don't feel like I could be a lump and just waste a few hours and not have it effect things.  (Barring vacations of course, because we all need time off.  I'm talking strictly the daily grind type stuff.)

So anywho, which way to the yelling room?  Because it would appear between a fantastic job opportunity (if I get it), personal projects with the Junk Journals, hoped for work from a revitalized CaptainKYSO, and my work on creative writing projects for my children's fantasy novels--I'm a little busy and have a full plate.

I guess last week was the right, wrong week to get sick.  But it's okay.  Because sometimes a bit of pressure, even extreme pressure, can be a good thing.

Leave Your Favorite Books Alone

If you are holding your favorite book in your hands and are just trying to relax by reading something: compartmentalize that part of yourself that thinks you could have written it better.  Critiques are off the table, no trying to analyze and pick it apart.  Just don't do it!

Sure we are told over and over again that if you want to be a better writer that you should read as often as possible, and I believe it is true as well.  However, I don't think enough is said about the relaxation part.  Sure, reading helps us to learn to be better at the writing craft, but lets not get so caught up in trying to extrapolate lessons from the story that we forget to just sit back and enjoy the ride.  Some books I will jump back and forth between just reading and picking apart.  Some I read just to pick apart and others I read over and over again just to enjoy.

I will NEVER open my favorite books to do anything other than read to enjoy it.  If you can't turn of the criticism or are under the assumption that you need to be able to pick apart your favorite book in order to be a better writer; I could not disagree more.

There are some places we go in the real world to escape from the daily grind.  Places where we can enjoy the sublime beauty of nature, places where we can take a deep breath and refresh ourselves.  If we are true about being writers, wouldn't we want that one well where we can be refreshed?  That one book that we refuse to sully?  I wouldn't go to my favorite hiking spot and start pointing out issues like the view was not as good as it could be, or if it was overgrown in spots, or if too many people seemed to be there these days.  I would have ruined it for myself and would forever be hearing that critical voice, forever looking for the flaws.  I would be trying to fool myself into thinking that somehow I was going to grow by being able to take a "critical and educated eye" to something beloved to me.

I guess that just might be me though.  I admit there are books that I really like that I am willing to think in a critical way.  But there are other stories that are dear to me that I would never think of trying to pick them apart.  Not that there might not be flaws in them.  I just want them preserved in my mind the way they were the first time that I read them.  I want to be able to have the experience of approaching them always like an old friend that I would warmly welcome.  I would never approach my wife or a life long friend with a desire to some how "better myself through criticism of that which  I love," so why would I do it with my favorite book.

Not saying that we should make idols out of certain books either.  If we can preserve our enjoyment of a book though.  If we can have just one spot--one story rather--that we can breath in, I think that is a thousand times better than any perceived benefit from being critical.

That's just me though.