reading deprivation

I continue to stumble along trying to follow the Artist's Way program. This week, one of the big themes is reading deprivation. Avoiding any and all of the standard forms of reading that I do. The idea is that much of the things you read are just so many ways of avoiding hearing your inner thoughts and ideas. Words are little pieces of junk food that pollute the mind. Only about half a day into what is supposed to be a whole week of avoiding reading as much as possible. It is difficult! No blogs, no talk radio, no audio books, no magazines, forums, web pages, trying to limit email. Alone with your thoughts. TV isn't a valid substitute, so avoiding that too.

Interesting to realise how much of that sort of empty reading I normally consume in a week. In some ways I'm lucky this landed on Thanksgiving week - the long weekend holiday and plenty of other distractions to keep me occupied. Maybe I need to try this again later in a more typical week - but it is already quite a struggle. I think I'll pick up my camera, just for something to do (that's part of the idea after all!). Writing is a valid activity, so I may get around to doing some of the blog posts that have been backing up in my head. I suppose I should avoid reading any of the comments so don't expect a response this week.

ETA: After posting this blog entry, I then wandered over to google and searched for 'artists way reading deprivation' and read a few blogs about experience with trying to do this exercise. Not a great start...