I was trying to make my overflowing bookshelves more orderly before a visitor stopped by my home and I was disappointed at how many of those books I have not yet read (or have started but have not yet completed). I've always had a lot of books, and it was a point of pride years ago that I had read almost every one of the texts on the shelf. But then I allowed all these things to get in the way of just reading for fucking fun like I used to, and my house started to be haunted

Sometimes I work in silence, but I often prefer to work with background noise or music. For many people, noises are distracting but I am the opposite; sometimes I find that my mind is more likely to wander if the atmosphere is too quiet. I was thinking recently about working with music on or not, as someone on Twitter had posed a question on this subject to her followers. For optimal results, I need the music on low. Lyrics are fine but instrumentals are slightly better to ma

I've been reading more poetry lately, both in an effort to explore/broaden my horizons but also in the hope that it will improve my own writing. I do not consider myself a poet, but I believe that prose can greatly benefit from poetic influence; some of my favorite lines from novels and memoirs are lyrical in nature. There is a stereotype that poets (and writers in general) are sad people. I'm not too big on generalizations, but I thought this quote from Søren Kierkegaard was