No reading? What do you mean, no reading? I was just given the Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. My roommate gifted it to me because my hold position for this book was #1189. I am on chapter three of this book and I have a theory about who Evelyn Hugo was in love with… no spoilers! I can’t read it for a week!! And I’m reading another book, Dragon Actually. My loan expires in seven days, but I guess I won’t be able to finish it now. I’m slowly, tenderly reading Patrick Rothfuss’ The Wise Man Fears at lunchtime. Not this week, though. And I just got the notification that I can check out the next book in the Wings of Fire series by Tui Sutherland, Winter Turning, but I can’t read it. Because no reading is allowed!!

What am I going to do this week?

Welcome to Part 4 of my journey into the Artist’s Way. This is a series of reflections on Julia Cameron’s book, The Artist’s Way. 

Here is a link to week three’s rambling.

Let’s discuss my life without reading.

Sunday 1pm. It begins. I finish the chapter on week 4 and then cut myself off. No more reading for the next seven days. Since I can’t read Evelyn Hugo, the dragon books, or Rothfuss, I am forced to draw pictures about how I’m feeling.

Anger. Shock. Desperation.

All I can think is, thank goodness I already finished the Shonen Jump this week. Blue Box was particularly good. It’s a coming of age drama about a young man who plays badminton and a young woman who is a basketball star. He has a crush on her. There’s also a rhythmic gymnastic girl named Hina, who has a crush on badminton-boy. Yes, there is a love triangle. Yes, I can only remember Hina’s name and not the others. If I could read, I’d verify the facts. Here is the link to the manga if you want to read them for me. Blue Box by Kouji Miura.

Sunday night. Now what? I started this blog post. Does reading my own blog post count? I haven’t reread what I’ve written so far. (Edit it later, I tell myself.)

Monday. At lunch a co-worker talked my ear off instead of me reading. Then at dinner I forgot and started reading a review on the ending of the Ranking of Kings anime. Whoops. I wrote emails and texts.

(Do these count?)

Tuesday. Wordle does not count. I decided at breakfast. At lunch I drew a man wearing a two-headed snake like a feather boa. He had red hair, a falling down mohawk and a hole for a mouth. The snakes had pin eyes and cute, chubby chins. It was badly drawn, yet full of possibilities. A character waiting for to written.

Dinner time: Now, what do I do?

Wednesday. Podcasts don’t involve reading. I can listen to podcasts at dinnertime. Nanocrystals in smart windows? This stuff really exists! (From the Stories from the NNI podcast You can find out more at nano.gov). Does reading names of videos on YouTube count? (Yes. I’ve just decided. So, YouTube is out unless I close my eyes to pick a video. This might be fun? Nope. No it wasn’t. Try again? A Markiplier video, that works. Have you watched his amazing In Space with Markiplier? You get to be the captain. The link to the first video is here. Tell me what you think of it in the comments!) And then I broke down. I read a financial statement. I read emails and wrote a long email to a cousin. I read about retirement. Then a recipe for tofu and roasted vegetables. I read my blog post and then worked on my story. Then I went to bed. Tomorrow. No reading!

Thursday. Lunchtime is the worst. Seriously. Can we say escapism?

Friday. I must confess things. Of course, I read things yesterday too. How can you study Spanish without reading? It’s impossible to play Elden Ring without reading what objects are, but I averted my eyes on the loading screen, which gives tips and explanations.

In fact, the Internet is so dangerous. I needed to read the list of yoga videos on YouTube in order to find the right one. How do you spell sequoias? Search for it. I know these are baby offenses, but no reading is impossible.

IMPOSSIBLE.

Saturday. I read a map in order to know where I am driving, but I do not turn on navigation. Instead, I rely on reading road signs to get where I’m going. How do I get the news without reading articles? Oh, my car has a radio. I listen to NPR morning edition and I learn I have not missed out. The news sounds oddly familiar, and the story about Jazz in Odessa is oddly heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time. Luckily, my last day of torture is a beach day. That means sandcastles and cold toes in the surf and browsing cute seaside souvenir shops painted like a box of crayons. I pick a random place to eat and its standard diner breakfast food. I read the menu, whoops.

Actual check in, week four:

Morning pages: Yes. Actually, I did them every day and complained a lot, celebrated a little and worked on recognizing my feelings.

Artist Date: A day trip to the beaches of Ocean Shores. I explored three, and built a sand castle. It was fun and exhausting. No seriously. I spent the next day resting.

Moments of synchronicity: Maybe. I made a nice connection at my cousin’s, which resulted in some freelance work. 

Other breakthroughs or significant insights: What did this week teach me? I am now addicted to Wordle. I read a lot and for many different reasons: work, pleasure, to avoid people, to avoid my own thoughts and because I like learning and stories. Writing without reading is also tough. And the only way you’ll get me to stop reading is to send me on a vacation/retreat, without notebooks or my kindle, in an Asian country. I don’t mind, actually. Anyone want to come with me?