Putting together a personal Clarion reading list, at first I'm thinking I don't need to read any more Kelly Link or Joe Haldeman. After all, I read the Link's first story collection less than a year ago. But... I'm already drawing blanks when I look at the story titles and first few paragraphs of some of the stories. And I'd argue that Haldeman's written one of my favorite SF novels of all time, but I'd be hard pressed to tell you anything beyond the main ideas behind it after only four years. I can tell you even less about two other Haldeman books I've enjoyed more recently.

So, yeah, this sucks. And I'm wondering how it's hindering me as a writer, both in research time and in being as well-read as I should be. Today I learned that an eight-week James Gunn online workshop on short story writing I signed up for actually maxed out its class size before I applied, so instead of spending the rest of the quarter doing that, it looks like I have an opening.

It's embarrassing, almost depressing, to only fully realize this now. So for the rest of this quarter, I'm going to push myself to become a faster, better reader. I'm not looking for skimming techniques or anything like that. I ordered Peter Kump's Breakthrough Rapid Reading, which seems to be the most comprehensive book on the market, and the reviews I've read specifically cite comprehension and recall as goals.

Then we'll see how that speeds up my writing.

Filed under Journal, Prose and Poetry, Vanity Smurf
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