Writing, Reading, Dreaming...

I recently stumbled across a wonderful article on the Guardian website that inspired me to think about my own reading habits, what they are now and what they used to be, particularly since I've only recently made tentative steps into the blogosphere and consequently bumped up my own reading a fair bit. 

I have a fairly high maintenance office job and work long hours. In the week I often don't get home until at least 7:30 pm,  by the time I have eaten and sat down to relax more often than not it can be almost 9 o'clock.  As a result, apart from the short stint on the bus on my way into the city in the morning I do the majority of my weekday reading in bed, turning it into a bit of a haven for me.  Robert McCrum talks about the world of the bed almost as a kind of twilight zone between this world and the dream-world, where your mind is free to wander and maybe, just maybe, writers and readers can be struck by their most inspired thoughts and feelings.  

During a period of illness earlier on in the year I wrote a couple of posts early in the morning sitting in bed and I must admit that I was rather pleased with the result.  I attributed it at the time to either the complete absence of the trivial rubbish that tends to build up in your head through your day + a little touch of inspiration from my subconscious mind. As for reading, well, it could almost be the warm up to dreaming....Like having a big bubble bath; for me it is my way to relax and therefore goes hand in hand with books (which is why many of them end up with a nice damp finish.)

I force time into my day where I sit down and open a book, one day I strive to have a life that is all about reading and writing ... and perhaps a bit of eating and wine drinking of course...