Reading Deprivation

I'm into week 4 of trying out some of the creative exercises out of The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. If you are wondering why I'm not linking to the book - it's because I can't read! Go Google it.

I'm not supposed to read. This is a creative exploration called "reading deprivation." Annoying. At first I'm thinking, "Oh, whatever." Then it quickly sinks in - I've been blogging more because I've been reading more, more stuff to think about = more stuff to say.

I will have nothing to say.

I suppose that is why the author inserts this little exercise. To help us address our fear of having nothing important to say without our crutches. Ha! I think of myself as a relatively independent person. Ha, again! Not the case. Within minutes I realize my utter dependence on the written word as a lifeline, not only to others, but to my thoughts and possibly my identity.

Squirming, I wonder how I'll make it through the week.

I've inserted clauses that: a) I can still read my own writing for proof-reading purposes, and b) I can look up things on the internet for life-sustaining activities like updating my car insurance, or checking symptoms on WebMD lest that stomach bloating turns out to be…dang. I can't sound clever because the stomach disease I WebMD'd yesterday slips my mind and I don't really know what it's called. Burns-Histle or something. Laughable. I'll post when I can look it up again. Unless it truly develops.

Ugh. A blank blog is no good. I read that today, just before I realized that I'm not supposed to read. Cruel, cruel joke. Can you sense my fear and frustration? Is it palpable yet? Where are my links!? I suppose links I've memorized can be inserted, but sadly, like phone numbers of my friends stored in my cell phone - I know very few of them by heart. Or how about how my stupid "tag cloud" doesn't work - I can't learn how to fix it until next week!

This is going to be a long and lonely week. I hope my husband is feeling talkative. Maybe we'll go on that wintery hike we've been talking about...