The Calm Before the Storm
Currently reading:
The Shards by Bret Easton Ellis
A Man Lies Dreaming by Lavie Tidhar
The second book is for grad school (which, somehow, is starting . . . . tomorrow??). FYI, I won’t be counting any school books toward the final Moratorium Library count, either as books completed or books added. I kind of have to buy them, if I want to learn anything and pass my classes.
In case you’re curious, though, I did finish two (very short) books for grad school this past week: This Year You Write Your Novel by Walter Mosley and River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey.
Books finished this week: 0
Library updates:
I’m trying to be better about taking breaks. I have a bad tendency to overcommit, and when I get overwhelmed by a full calendar or long to-do list, I sort of . . . shut down. The work gets done eventually, usually in a few wild hours of work after days of ignoring things, but I know there must be a better way to beat burnout. I also know that one of the ways to avoid burnout is to take real breaks, restorative breaks, step-away-from-the-computer breaks, and not my usual I’m-just-going-to-watch-one-Grumps-compilation-video-I-swear breaks.
As much as I love (and suspect I might actually be addicted to) YouTube, I’m trying to move away from using it as a crutch. I watch videos on my lunch break, when I get stressed out, when I’m trying to fall asleep at night. It’s almost comical how behind I am on watching all the good TV out there, and it’s mostly because I’d rather watched eighteen commentary videos in a row than just finally sit down and watch a show I know is great and I also know I’ll probably love and upon which I’ll likely become hyperfixated when I do finally watch it (*cough*Succession*cough*).
I don’t necessarily want to watch more TV. But I do want to stop staring at my work laptop and calling it a “break.” I’ve taken a few actual breaks over the last two weeks, while I’ve been sick, because my body desperately needed me to sleep for at least half an hour to keep functioning. A well-placed nap in your day can work wonders! But even when I don’t need rest, I’d still like my breaks to be restful. I’ve spent some morning and afternoon hours reading and journaling this week, in hopes of making this a real pattern. I want to turn to creative (and non-screen) pursuits whenever possible, and remember that taking breaks means you can return to your to-do list better prepared.
Don’t worry——this isn’t all an elaborate lead-up to me announcing a Moratorium Library hiatus. This project is honestly one of the things I look forward to every week, instead of it bringing any worry or stress. I just read a bit, dump out my thoughts into a Squarespace blog layout, and call it a day.
Anyhow, posts may be shorter or perhaps even missed over the next few weeks. I also wouldn’t expect very many finished Library books this summer, if I were you. I haven’t officially announced this anywhere aside from a stray line or two in the Library’s one-year anniversary post, because I’m trying out not shouting all the things from the social media rooftops. But I’m going to grad school, babyyy. I got into the (online) popular fiction MFA at Emerson (my alma mater, #brag) and I am so excited and also terrified to be starting classes this summer. I’m already reading and brainstorming for my writing workshop, and I’m taking a lit class, too, so obviously that means a lot of books will be coming into the library (but not the Library, you know?).
Also, The Shards is great, but also just, like . . . super long. So I’m going to keep chipping away at the books in the Moratorium Library, but I apologize in advance if the next few posts are lacking in book reviews and are mostly full of me whining about getting homework done.
Closing thoughts:
“If you want to finish your novel this year, you have to write each and every day.” ——Walter Mosley, This Year You Write Your Novel
(Advice I am trying so very hard to follow and so far mostly failing at.)
Total books read from the Moratorium Library: 36
And, just for fun, the first grad school haul:
