Category: reading

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reading

Daily Post Day 16: Reading Multiple Books (thanks to Kindle)

At Panera Bread

I’ve been busy getting free books for my Kindle and transferring PDFs over to it; now, I have quite a few books/articles loaded onto the device and am reading a few titles all at the same time. Of course, this makes me move through the books a lot slower than if I read them one-by-one.

To top that off, I’m also reading one REAL book (as in, not on Kindle, a hardcover).

Currently reading:

  1. The 4-Hour Workweek, by Tim Ferriss
  2. Not Quite Adults, by Richard Settersten
  3. MBA Fundamentals: Accounting & Finance, by Michael P. Griffin
  4. The Complete User’s Guide to Kindle 2, by Stephen Windwalker
  5. Never Eat Alone, by Keith Ferrazzi (this is the real book, hardcover)

Hmm, seems I like to read nonfiction these days. Plus, I’m doing some pre-IMBA prep by reading these books listed above (well, aside from the Kindle guide and Not Quite Adults). There are many more books to add to my pre-IMBA prep…but I’ll need to get through the aforementioned books first.

So, what are you reading these days?

Categories
genres memories reading short works

Brief Flashes & Promising Second Looks

paul-hornschemeierImage by life serial via Flickr
Over the weekend, I’ve spent a lot of time catching up on magazines (both consumer and literary) and refreshing my memory with my short stories. Most of them I had drafted back in 2008; most of them are rather short, under 500 words. It’s sobering and also enlightening to look back on what I wrote even just two years ago–the scenery around me may change, but these words have stayed static, capturing my thoughts from that period of time.

Some things I noticed from reading my drafts has been the common thread of dark themes. I consciously know that, for myself, I do not want to be marginalized with writing something fluffy and light. Oh sure, I do like reading the occasional chick lit book; but for me to write a story in that genre? I can’t see myself doing it without laughing at myself. Plus, I feel like the “plight of the woman” is all too overplayed these days.

I can also see how, when I asked my sister and a few colleagues to critique one of my stories last month, that I do have a tendency to “tell too much and not show enough”. I know I ramble when I am writing creatively, even in blogs; the irony is that I have a business background from school, so you’d think I’d learned about keeping things short and simple.

Anyway, I found a few promising drafts to polish up for submissions, but I continue to find myself distracted by my ideas for new writing, new blogs, etc. I find that I lose focus sometimes rather too easily and that I want to do more than what I can actually pile onto my plate.
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magazine reading reflection

Sifting Through Literary Magazines

(Photo taken February 7, 2007)

This week I’ve found myself extremely intrigued by literary magazines. I ventured out to The Booksmith on Haight to pick up a copy of The First Line since I anticipate submitting stories to them. While I was there, I began looking at other magazines and discovered a few more that I hadn’t known about.

To be honest, I didn’t think much of literary magazines until recently. I was more interested in consumer magazines and didn’t find interest in reading others’ stories. I suppose you can say I was engulfed in my own writing and felt like I couldn’t be bothered to read short stories, and that my time would be better spent reading novels…

But of course that mindset has changed. There’s an abundance of literature to be read out there, and, after looking through several magazines I’ve purchased, I realize that hey, reading others’ short stories is enlightening. We’re all in the same boat and it’s nice to see the different styles strewn throughout the different journals. That’s what makes art art: we may have same or similar dreams, but we all go about the experience in different ways through our different writing styles.

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#amreading goals Internet life project reading the3six5 time

First Third, 2010.

There’s still a week left in April, but still: last night, I came to the realization that the year is almost already a third over. The time that has passed this year–it’s hard to believe how it stays in motion and that the dark period of time continues to edge further and further away.

I’ve been reviewing my journals from the last half of 2009 and I realize that, although many things change externally and internally, a lot of my thoughts stay constant. The goals I had mapped out for this year have been derailed by that unfortunate period of time, but slowly, I’m picking myself back up.

On Monday, I found myself perusing the public library and scooping up a few more books on writing. I can never get enough of these kinds of books; I’m always looking to read and learn more, to hone my craft. Writing has been dormant lately, at least creatively. Sure, I’m drafting emails and meeting minutes at work, but that’s just stating the facts. Reminds me of my days in high school when I wrote articles for the school paper.

In a few days, I’ll be leaving my mark on the3six5 Project, and I continue to feel in disbelief that my time to write my entry for the project has snuck up on me so quickly. I remember when I signed up to be a writer for the project (late last year) that I was already envisioning what I would write on April 24; I had many plans and dreams to build up to that point in time back in December. Now, I see that all those plans I had will not be written about, at least not this year. There are different things happening instead.

Life continues to amaze me with the twists and turns that come my way. Reading my journals has been like reading a suspenseful novel; didn’t know things would turn out this way, but I’ll still persevere. I’m alive today, and I’m truly thankful for that.

Categories
Facebook featured news reading

Quiet Writing Days & Muni Diaries Submissions

Things have been relatively quiet on the writing front lately; not much writing in terms of leisure/pleasure, but exercising my writing muscle at work and through academic essays. I’ve been also reading a lot, flying through a book per week on average. Reading for speed isn’t a big goal of mine, but I find myself feeling quite satisfied when I’m able to pick up a book that’s THAT good that I can’t even put it down for a moment.

I’ve had a few of my older blog posts featured over at Muni Diaries, a local flavor blog on the wonderful public transportation system here. It’s been one of my favorite blogs to read ever since I discovered it via Twitter about a month or two ago; it’s just nice and amusing to read what others have to say/think about their daily bus rides. There’s always something new to write about when riding on the bus anyway: new characters for future writing, interesting conversations picked up, etc.

And in other news, I somehow must have missed the sudden increase, but I just checked and found that I had 15 new fans on my Facebook Page. That’s a rather big jump from the last time I visited the page. It’s great to see that people are checking in on my works (albeit, I haven’t posted recently); just 70 more fans to go before I can customize my URL for my page. It’s not so important, but it’ll make my Page a little more personable, right?