It’s early on a Friday evening, and I’m trying to decide whether I’m going to go out or not. I have a few hours before the social scene really kicks off, though, so my immediate imperative is to find a good book and kick my feet up for a few hours.
Innocently enough, I wander over to my bookshelf and try to find something I want to read.
Nothing.
I own thousands of books, and have read them all dozens of times. My favourites, I’m word-perfect on. I don’t bother reading Neal Stephenson or Dave Duncan any more, instead I sit down and think my way through them.
My budget’s stretched to the max, so I can’t make a late-night dash to a boosktore and pick up something new to read. This is where an e-book reader would be handy – I’d jump onto Project Gutenberg and download some Sherlock Holmes.
This state of affairs depressed me for about twenty minutes, during which time I wandered around the house, accomplished absolutely nothing at all, and then realised:
Huh.
This is the perfect time to do some writing.
Instantly, the world became an easier place to be in. It goes to show – with a mental wrench, a sideways jerk from apathy to excitement, pushing all the bubbled-down thoughts of the day to the forefront of one’s brain and letting them rip – you can instil your world with colour and energy.
So, what am I going to do?
Go write!
P.S. Patrick Rothfuss totally posted a blog about Books for Boobs, which wins the Things Pip Likes About The World Award for April 23, 2010.
I just wanted to say that having an e-reader is perfect in such situations. It also provides endless procrastination. So, it has its pros and cons.
Fair enough, fair enough… What reader do you use?
Is it particularly distractionary, do you think, or will they all be as ‘bad’?