Monday, January 17, 2011

Writer.... Not A Reader

Alright, I confess... Here publicly before the world, and all 10 of my daily readers...I am NOT a reader. Reading for me is like a fast acting sedative that lulls me into a deep sleep at an alarmingly fast speed. I hear about people who read chapters upon chapters in just hours, and I must admit that I covet that ability. I have to spend too much time rereading because my ADD (undiagnosed) will not let me focus long enough to comprehend what I am supposed to be internalizing and learning from.

I read tweets almost daily, from a bunch of my old college friends who are now pastors, about all these amazing Christian authors and their insight into Scripture and Christian living yet I cannot make it through one chapter of these books because my brain cannot seem to take it all in. I would love to know what the heck all the fuss is about with these Twilight and Harry Potter books, but I see those things and just laugh. Books should never be more than an inch thick... What in the world?? I do read the Bible, and thank God he gave us wisdom to break it down into VERY small chapters, and even smaller verses!!! Ain't He just good!

The irony in all of this is that I do love to write. When I work on my blog I get such a sense of satisfaction. I really do not care if anyone is reading it, because I can go back and read. Why can I read this... Well, for the most part, it is short, to the point, and usually there is pictures! I love childrens' books for that very reason; they tell a story, they almost always have a life lesson, and they are over in about 10 minutes. Did I mention that they have pictures?

Somewhere long ago in my school years, I missed the reading boat I guess. Maybe I never had teachers who creatively pushed me into reading. Maybe I was out the day they the started the Book It Reading Club that got me free pizza from Pizza Hut. Maybe the library was too quiet for a talkative child/adult like myself. Maybe I got fussed at one too many times for keeping a book too long because I was such a slow reader... Who knows??? I do know that I am the biggest cheerleader for my students when it comes to reading. I want them to love it so much, and I encourage them to read as often and as much as possible. They are better at than me!!! This past 6 weeks my class collectively read over 800 books!!! Yes most were on a 2-3 grade level, but lots of them were chapter books! AMAZING for 17 students!

You may be asking what inspired this post about reading... Yesterday as I logged in to write, I noticed that my blog had a WHOPPING 22 followers. These are people who read my blog daily or at least weekly. They are readers I guess... Why else would they follow, unless of course they are stalking me.... (cue the Twilight Zone Theme just for my friend Teri who worries about online stalkers!!!) I wish that I could go read their blogs everyday too, but there in lies my confession. I am just not a good reader!

A special thanks to my readers... If you see your name, drop me a comment sometime to let me know you are still out there. Thanks for inspiring a blog.
1. Benji (old college friend)
2. Kelly (Have we met?)
3. The Lims (Great people, miss them!)
4. Karen (Never met, but feel like I know her thanks to FB and the Blogosphere!)
5. Jodi (Where in the world are you now?)
6. Kim (Great Couponer!)
7. Stacy ( Great Photographer!)
8. Megan (Great Teacher!)
9. Jessica (Your mama is insane)
10. The Lewis's (Chris and Carol???)
11. Jennifer (Is this Pickle?)
12. Jane Marie (I had no idea you even had a blog. Love the Barbie house!)
13. Lee (MAYOR!)
14. Gina (Don't let your mom see this post. She will defreind me.)
15. The Pass Family (Have we met?)
16. Summer 1
17. Summer 2 (I will let y'all decide who is 1 and who is 2.)
18. Tracey (HEY!)
19. Amanda (What all did you craft this week?)
20. Andy (Not sure who this is)
21. Kimmy (Howdy Neighbor!)
22. Anna ( Be careful, I may be sending you bricks!)

3 comments:

Matt Johnson said...

I agree. But your post was too long. I didn't get past the first paragraph. JK

Summer said...

Jed - you are inspiring me to start blogging again. I was very slack last year. Oh and I am mostly referred to as Summerlaney(and yes that would be as my 1st name) hehehe The other Summer is just Summer...if the other Summer is the one from church!

Tracey said...

HEY! I'm here and still love reading your blog...read your post today, all your running will be so worth it when you cross the finish line at the marathon! :)