“Westport, Ireland” (photo by m.a.h. hinton)
As I have said here before, I am not a good television watcher. I always prefer reading. If I am home alone, I almost never turn the television on except for sports.
I have tried over the years to find something to watch while riding my exercise bike but have never been able to find something compelling enough to hold my attention. I just recently found that if I bump-up the font on my KindleFire I can read without reading glasses. This has been a game changer.
Of late I have been thinking a great deal about reading because I have been thinking a great deal about writing. I have tried on numerous occasions to write a mystery or western novel but always get 10,000 to 20,000 words in and lose steam. I have ascribed this to my poet-self. Poets do not need to be that disciplined.
But thinking about reading has made me realize that I read mainly poetry and creative non-fiction. In fact, with few notable exceptions, all the writers I admire most write either poetry or nonfiction. And with similar notable exceptions all the books I have most loved in my life are either poetry or nonfiction.
I have not shared here yet that I going to be starting an MFA at Hamline University soon. When I first thought of doing this, I imagined myself working on poetry (of course) and fiction. But as I have been thinking of writing and the books I love over these past months, I have come to see that it will probably be poetry and creative non-fiction.