Whatcha reading?

 I've been on a reading kick in the last year. I typically have two Kindles at my bedside, just in case my batteries run down on the one, I have my backup ready to go. I go in streaks in my reading habits. I'll read several books about the Tudor dynasty, from fashion to fatalities, then I'll go off in another direction. I've read a number of fiction and non-fiction about Holocaust survivors, pioneer life, and a large number about addiction and its impact on families and society. Then I'll switch gears and read a bunch of books by the same author.

In the past year, I've re-read or read for the first time from "the classics"

• Orwell - 1984 and Animal Farm
• Dickens - A Christmas Carol, Great Expectations, and David Copperfield
• Faulkner - The Sound and the Fury and As I Lay Dying
• Fitzgerald - This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and the Damned, The Great Gatsby
• Willa Cather - My Antonia
• Steinbeck - Tortilla Flat and Cannery Row
• Hemmingway - The Old Man and the Sea, A Farewell to Arms, The Sun Also Rises, and parts of In Our Time

The influence of reading these authors in rapid succession (I immediately start a new book within minutes of finishing the last book) is apparent in my writing, which is often disjointed and depending on what I most recently read, sometimes incomprehensible. 

I know they say that good writers are good readers, but in my case I feel as though the quality of my writing has decreased in the past couple of years. I don't quite know what to do about that, but I decided maybe I need to simplify things and go back to basics. So I'm picking up the collection of Laura Ingalls Wilder and reading the Little House series for the first time. 

I don't have a problem reading children's lit as an adult. I found re-reading Charlotte's Web this year refreshing. The sentences were clean and the storyline linear. I'm hoping for the same from Wilder. Time will tell. But, even now, as I'm halfway through her first book, I'm itchy to seek out the next title to read, so I ask you, "Whatcha reading?" and is it available on Kindle?

Contentment

 I tried resurrecting my blog last week, but today I'm realizing I did it on the wrong blog platform, so here we are again! The photo I'm posting has nothing to do with my starting back, but it does sort of reflect how I've been doing the past few years since moving to Georgia. Comfortable, but lazy. 

There's noting inherently wrong with what I've been doing (or not doing) but there hasn't been much noteworthy, either. I've just been lounging my way through life. A lot of that has to do with where I'm at mentally. 

Two years ago, I had a major mental health crisis shortly after we moved. No need to go into the details, except to say that I'm now on some pretty strong meds that do their job of keeping me on the right side of the grass, but they've dulled my spark. I go to bed at 7 and would easily sleep more than 12 hours, I find it hard to leave the house, and during the day it sometimes feels like I'm sleepwalking. 

Before moving, I was able to find a job, sell a house, buy a house, move my mom down with us (so managing two separate moving vans), and start a new job, all within a little more than a month. Okay, so that should have been a sign of either extreme motivation or mental illness, but hey, it all shook out.

I'm not thrilled with my lack of energy, but wanting to be alive is pretty friggin' nice. So is living with my supportive spouse, my mama, and a truckload of animals. So, while I can't say I'm completely happy with where things are at right now, I can say I'm content. 

From my perspective, contentment is preferable. Happiness can be fleeting. Happiness is a bolt of lightening on a cloudless day -- it gets your attention, but it's gone the second you see it. Contentment is longer lasting. It's built brick by brick. It's firm. It's sustainable. 

That doesn't mean that I have given up on happiness; it's just not my daily goal. Being a decent human being that left the world a little better each day by encouraging others, loving dogs, or doing something for my job that contributes to the betterment of society, that's worth striving for. Most days I feel like I've moved the needle in the right direction. That's all any of us can really hope for. I wish you all contentment.