Category Archives: reading

Reading

Teaching

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I never wanted to be a teacher. Actually, I was a little bit insulted when my careers advisor suggested it while I was still at school. I was an arrogant teenager then — I think my reluctance was partly because I thought that teachers didn’t “do”. Which is actually totally untrue.

And brings me to my point. Teaching has taught me far more — about writing, about words, about reading, about yoga, about myself than I ever thought was possible. Case in point: last week I taught a yoga class that was based around the theme of dharana, and I read out something from an old issue of the Good Weekend about how multitasking is actually really bad for our concentration. So of course I started thinking about how much I multitask. Or attempt to, anyway. And I realised that a lot of my frustration over the last few weeks at not getting anything done could simply solved by actually concentrating on one thing at a time, rather than flitting from one thing to the next and back again to the first.

I tried it this last week. I left the house so I couldn’t be distracted by the kitchen and its need to be cooked in, and I took one project a day up to my favourite cafe. I let myself be okay with the fact that I wouldn’t get anything done on the projects I hadn’t brought with me, and I put all my effort into the one I had.

I got so much done. And by the end of the week I really felt like I’d achieved something.

Teachers definitely “do”.

The other great thing about teaching is that you get to explore things you are interested in but might not otherwise have got around to looking at; and you get to re-visit other things you might not have had an excuse to otherwise. Last week I got to read both Friedrich Nietzsche and Roald Dahl.

Slow Reading

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I found this article through Mad Bibliophile today. Interesting reading. It relates to a lot of the other things I’ve been thinking about recently, so I’ll try to write something longer about it at some point. Time is something that’s on my mind a lot lately, given that I’ve now got more of it.

But for now I’m off to get ready for a dress-up party!

Novel Challenge update

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Reading for the Novel Challenge has been an interesting experience for me. I’m not sure if I’m the only weird one, but I have this strange guilt complex about reading fiction, despite the fact that I enjoy it immensely. On top of the idiocy of feeling guilty about enjoying something, I’m a writer, and reading fiction is invaluable for my writing, both as inspiration and as some kind of subconscious learning. Yeah. I don’t get the guilt complex either. It’s stupid. Something to do with being an incredibly proactive person — the not-so-great flipside of which is that I’m very bad at relaxing.

Anyway. I’ve got a pretty good excuse to read fiction at the moment and it’s been really wonderful. I’ve spent a couple of Saturday mornings curled up in my favourite armchair, winter sun shining through the window, nose in a book. Sigh. Why don’t I let myself do this more often?

As well as the relaxation factor, I’ve also thoroughly enjoyed starting to pick apart what, exactly, it is that I enjoy (or otherwise) about what I’m reading. I’m getting a bit of extra practise at this at the moment, because I’m tutoring a year 12 student in English, and a lot of what we’re doing is recognising literary techniques and trying to understand what their function is in the text. In our last session we looked at a book I read recently, The Anatomy of Wings, and tried to pull apart a very small section of it, discussing what some of the techniques might be trying to achieve.

I find it very hard not to just point out all the techniques I can see, because I enjoy the process so much (not a great teaching move). I want to do year 12 English again. I think I might be a dork.

In other news, I’m slowly picking up bits and pieces of yoga teaching work as well, and I can’t even begin to describe how much I’m enjoying it. Such a rewarding experience. Hopefully I’ll have a website up soonish that I can share here (and if you’re in Sydney you can come to some of my classes!).

But for now, back to reading fiction — guilt-free!

(PS. Pop by my page and sponsor me — it’s for a good cause.)

The Novel Challenge

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Remember the MS-Read-a-Thon? I loved taking part when I was a kid. I’d call my grandparents, aunts and uncles, and occasionally family friends to ask for donations to my reading. So when Ange from LiteraryMinded asked me to be part of Team LiteraryMinded for the adult equivalent, The Novel Challenge, I was pretty excited! I’ve been reading a lot of non-fiction lately, so I’m hoping this challenge will help me get back into reading some novels.

You can track my progress at my profile page, where you can also make a donation to this very worthy cause. Multiple Sclerosis affects an estimated 18,000 Australians and over two million people worldwide. As its cause remains unknown, there’s no known cure. No donation is too small, and I’d be incredibly grateful for any support you can offer.

Anticipation

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This week, I’ve spent most of my days sitting in various libraries and cafes at ANU (Australian National University) in Canberra, writing madly, pretending I’m a student there. I haven’t managed to finish the essay I’m working on, but I’ve got a writer’s first draft (that is, not something I’d be comfortable having someone else read, but something that forms some kind of whole, and that I can continue to work on). This afternoon I lounged on the couch in my parents’ back room, reading one of the many books I’m trying to absorb as part of my research for this essay, and for the bigger project I’ve tentatively started work on.

I had a few moments today where I really felt excited about what I was doing. I could almost feel the cogs in my brain turning, working things out, and I thought, ‘This is why I do this.’

I need moments like this more often.

A big idea…

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… I’ve got one.

It’s funny, I haven’t spent much time over the last few weeks thinking about my writing — except briefly to bemoan my lack of it. I’ve been away, this last week, on a yoga teachers’ retreat, which sounds lovely and relaxing, doesn’t it? Well, it was lovely, but not so much relaxing. It was hard work, physically, mentally and emotionally. As is often the case though, with hard work came reward.

When I got back on Friday I felt spaced-out. It was surreal being back in my own life after four intense days of perception-shifting. It’s taken me a couple of days to settle in again. But just at the end of that head-in-the-clouds feeling came something of an epiphany. I’m working on an essay about food at the moment, and have been freaking out about how to narrow down what my research is discovering to a few thousand words. I suddenly realised last night that I didn’t have to. I could still write the essay, but then continue on, and turn this into a bigger project as well.

It probably comes as no surprise to people who’ve spent time with me that I might end up writing extensively about food. I love the stuff. I have a ridiculously fast metabolism, related to my thyroid condition that I’ve mentioned here before, and it means I’m constantly thinking about food and how I might better consume it so that I remain full for longer (and continue to enjoy it!).

Of course, it didn’t take long for the doubt to creep in. Who am I to try to write a book like the one I want to about food (more details as I work them out myself, I promise)? Surely there are already too many books about food on the market?

Valid questions, sure. But I want to write it, so I should just do it, and think about that stuff later.

So. It’s likely that there’ll be more food posts around these parts from here on in. Yum.

Paradise Updated: a literary event

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Hurrah! A literary event in Sydney! Elena from With Extra Pulp let me know about this one last night, so I went along and got to meet her as well. We talked about writing, drinking wine and getting distracted by graphic novels. Lovely!

Mic Looby (who I know better from his Big Issue column) was talking about his book, Paradise Updated, with Ben Groundwater. We were treated to a reading from the book, describing one of the older, jaded travel writers; and the conversation largely focussed on what a terrible job being a travel writer really is. I’ve been as guilty as anyone, assuming that travel writing would be a great, glamorous job. When it’s explained more fully (think covering an entire country on a two month deadline) it doesn’t sound quite so fun.

Elena, having read the book (and reviewed it, in fact), has a slightly more informed and amusing review of the night up here. Hopefully there’ll be some more events like this one for us to go to soon!

Going off on a bit of a tangent for a moment, the venue where last night’s event was held also happens to house my preferred cafe to write in, so I was there this afternoon making notes and scrawling down outlines. I have high hopes for this place: a jazz quintet set up and played a set or two while I was there, and the beginnings of some kind of art exhibition became apparent as I left and tables full of wine bottles were set up. I’ll have to keep a close eye on this place.

I recorded a small snippet of what I heard at Da Caff (as I’m now calling it) to share here. Unfortunately I’ve got no idea how to convert it to the kind of file I can actually upload… so for now it’s sitting on my desktop. Any help in that regard would be greatly appreciated!