To Read or to Write?

I'm taking my wrist for a test run at the keyboard right now. I took the splint off, but my wrist is a ghastly shade of purple-yellow bruising, and my mobility is limited. I really should go back for a follow-up with my doctor, but I've been putting it off. I'll give it another day or two sans splint and see how it feels.

Anyway, part of the reason I'm blogging is so I can put off making a decision about what to do at the moment. I've been kind of anxious to get back to writing, but have been hesitant to do so. I want to move forward in the revision, though I feel I need to address some issues in a previous chapter that were raised (rightfully so) by my critique group. (I haven't been able to quite convince myself that trying to solve a writing problem is a much better solution than avoidance--but I'm working on it...) I also want to do some reading, especially finishing up a book I'm currently in the middle of so I can start the new one by Laurie Halse Anderson, Wintergirls. Besides that, I haven't been reading much lately, and I miss it. My favorite reading time is in bed before I go to sleep, either when Mr. GJ is on the computer or he's watching a movie in which I have no interest. It's also the time when I feel the least guilty about reading--I never seem to read in the middle of the day, because it seems like I should be doing any number of other things besides reading (like writing!), whereas at night, the only other thing I should necessarily be doing is sleeping.

On Friday night, I went to a book signing for Laurie Halse Anderson, which was great. She's very personable, and had some interesting things to say about teaching classic literature to kids (basically, that many books with fancy language aimed at adults--she used The Scarlet Letter as an example--make kids not like to read). As someone with a B.A. in English who had to read many a classic, I can attest that even in college, reading some of those books (or not reading them, as was sometimes the case with me) made me wonder why they were "classics" (though I still loved--and still do!--to read). Anyway, being at the signing made me want to go home and read as much as I could, maybe like continuing to work my way through the unread books on the shelves near my desk. However, it also made me want to go home and work on my manuscript ASAP, so I can finally move into the next phase of this whole process, which would hopefully be submissions to agents and/or editors.

Back in a bookstore yesterday to look for a particular non-fiction book, I found myself in the Children's area (as I invariably do). Once again, I found myself equally torn between wanting to go home and write my heart out, or wanting to curl up on the couch and quietly read for a couple of hours (never mind other things that have been calling out to me, like the dishes in the kitchen or the almost-overflowing hamper). I wish I could solve the problem by writing for a while, then reading a chapter or two until I'm ready to write a bit more, but I don't think my brain shifts gears that easily between the active and passive modes. Maybe I'll try it, anyway. I'll post back if it works...