What I’ve Been Reading – May 2016

What I've Been Reading May 2016

A while ago I shared my recent discovery of Anne Bogel‘s What Should I Read Next podcast, which I have really been enjoying. I have been meaning to share more of what I’ve been reading and realized that the format that she follows for the show is absolutely perfect for my sharing (I’m stealing the idea from her, because it was original a series on her blog, before it was a podcast).

I’m going to be doing it a bit differently though. Weekly just isn’t going to happen, I don’t read that many books (unfortunately), but I figure I can probably do this four times a year, that’s my goal: May, August, November, and February. With that schedule I think I avoid most of the busy times of year and it gives me a bit of time to have more than one book read.

Right now I’m going to cover all the books I’ve read so far this year; if you follow me on instagram (@JessicaM.White) you can check out my tag #books2016LifeintheWhiteHouse. I’ve surprisingly managed to read 11 books this year, although one of them was more of a pamphlet than a book, but I’m still counting it!

What I've Been Reading May 2016

I read a variety of books, obviously. I used to read strictly fiction…you wouldn’t catch me DEAD reading non-fiction. Maybe it was blogs or parenting, but now I read a LOT of non-fiction. Partly because I feel like I have to; that I’m going to somehow fail at this mommy and/or marriage thing if I don’t read EVERY. SINGLE. BOOK. on marriage, parenting, and now homeschooling. Don’t get me wrong…some of them are fantastic! Most of them are fantastic, but they take a lot out of me to read.

We’re going to go with these 9 for the books* I’ve read the past few months.

Favorite Fiction Book

My favorite fiction book would have to have been All the light We Cannot See. I really enjoyed the story, so much so that I really didn’t like how the author ended the book. You know you have become invested in a story, in the characters, when things happen that you are just pissed about. It was almost to the point that I hated the book because of it, but it really was just that good.

The book follows to parallel story lines during WWII, one of a German boy and one of a French girl. There is a lot of jumping from one to the other and back and forth in time, which was a bit hard to follow (I had to check back sometimes to see what year I was in), but it worked well for the store. It was definitely a book that I would recommend to anyone that enjoys WWII stories, which I do.

Favorite Non-Fiction Book

Hands-down my favorite non-fiction was Big Magic, although Madame Chic was a close second. I’m honestly going to have to get my own copy of the book and re-read it so that I can mark up all the pages (darn you library copy!). For a creative who has been struggling on all levels with being creative and creating anything, it was a fantastic read, with fantastic insight and fantastic advice on embracing the life of a creative and not being paralyzed with fear.

The only other book of Elizabeth Gilbert’s that I have read was Eat. Pray. Love. which I enjoyed, but now I’m going to have to look at more of her non-fiction books, because it was that enjoyable. I so appreciated getting her perspective on writing and hearing her story of successes and failures as a writer. She was REAL, which is something I think I struggle with when it comes to the advice of successful writers.

The Book I Hated

This one will come as no surprise to you: 1984. I’m sorry. I have a B.S. in English and had NEVER read this book. The only Orwell I read was Animal Farm, and I remember NOTHING of that book; I think I may seriously have SparkNotes’d it. As a student of literature I know I should probably be in awe of this book, but I couldn’t.

I loved the story line. I loved the premise of the entire thing…big brother is watching (I’m a huge conspiracy theorists, so that’s right up my alley), but it was so…drawn…out…that I just couldn’t. I tried….really I did. It was a struggle to pick it up, to the point that I was just wasting my reading time. I admit it…I gave up. I read up to page 100, and then I just couldn’t. I wanted it done. I speed read, scanning pages, and then googled for the synopsis.

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That’s it. I still have a ton on my TBR shelf. Of course, I just keep adding to it with books I get for review and books I see that I just have to have. Unfortunately, our library is extremely limited on any sort of Christian non-fiction, so those I have to buy, but I wait until they’re on sale. Then listening to the What Should I Read Next and SortaAwesome podcasts doesn’t help, because they just give me more books to read!

What have you been reading? What is your favorite book of 2016?

*The above links are affiliate links, which means I get a small percentage of your purchase, at no additional cost to you. You can find my disclosure policy here.

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Overcoming Creative’s Block

This blogging thing hasn’t been coming easy to me the past few months. I think I feel so far removed from my creativity that I feel as though overcoming creative block is impossible.  I’ve allowed myself to get to the place of “Why am I even trying?!”  Which is absolutely ridiculous, but it’s the truth. I see so few people reading and sharing blogs, see so many who are writing and creating beautiful spaces, that my space seems rather more an eye-sore, than a heart-salve.Overcoming creative block

I tell myself it doesn’t matter if I don’t have perfectly curated graphics and pinnable images. That it isn’t necessary if the words resonant with at least one person. The problem is that I desperately WANT to create that visual beauty in whatever way it is birthed. I take pictures and look at them and wait and ruminate (did you know that you should wait before sharing a picture on INSTA-gram? That it’s better to really be intentional about the photo and what you say?) and then convince myself no one wants to see this, that it’s not as good as I want it to be, so why bother. Of course, this has also bled over into my quilting as well.

Can you tell that sometimes most times I am my own worst enemy and critic?

But who isn’t?! We all are. I’d love to tell you that I figured out the fail proof way of being free in one’s creativity without feeling like a failure or that it’s good, but not nearly good enough. Or that good enough is good ENOUGH. I don’t. I don’t know how. I do know that it takes a bit less moaning and groaning and bit a more just doing it. Just putting fingers to the keys, blades to the fabric, and needles to the thread: Letting the words and fabric fall where they may.

Sometimes the hardest part of starting is getting started.

That’s where I feel I am.

I recently read Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic (READ IT if you consider yourself a creative of any sort). Unfortunately, I had a library copy that I couldn’t mark up, because there was so much delicious goodness in that book (seriously, just google quotes from the book)! So much that just spoke to my struggling creative soul, and ALL OF IT telling me to just get over it, over myself, and just do a little bit, just START! That if I don’t even do that, then I’m doing myself and the world a disservice by not delving into my God-given creativity.

The bottom line: I need to get over what I expect my writing should look like; I need to get over feeling as though, if I can’t do “perfection” then I shouldn’t try; I need to get over this hurdle and just write. That’s what I need to do. I need to convince myself that I am a writer, even if I don’t have any “published” works. That I don’t need to have a certain pen and paper or laptop (even though I function much better when I’m not distracted by things that are seriously bugging me). That I can just string words together and let them exist for now, maybe to be edited…maybe not.

I know I’m not the only one struggling with this, because if I was Big Magic wouldn’t be as popular a book as it is, and there wouldn’t be a plethora of writing groups on facebook: Obviously, a lot of people struggle with their creativity. Who’s with me?! Who’s struggling to creating, whether it be with words, paints, fabrics or something else. I know I’m not alone.

1 Comment Creating, Intentional Living, Writing