Flow

So it seems that lots of people in my building (and in my virtual building) are thinking about writing books too. I think that's somehow gotten me going and I'm happy to say that I've been doing a lot of book-writing lately, which means I haven't been doing too much blog writing unfortunately. But given how much I've read about the importance of maintaining flow (and please don't point out that reading about flow is a way to destroy flow) I am superstitious of anything that might disrupt this rare feeling of being in a groove.

Currently not in a groove: my reading for fun. The following books have been picked up and abandoned by me:
The Botany of Desire. This book has been recommended many times because I write about plant hunters and gardeners and such. And I did enjoy parts of it very much, but a great and growing dislike of Michael Pollan's writing style, plus a feeling that I could see where it was going from a long way off, meant it got returned to the library half-done.
The Long Tail: Ditto, and then some. Why do I persist in reading popular economics? All it inspires is a vast and engulfing sense of rage at the mindless consumption I usually so enjoy.
Among Friends: I was warned on this one, but tried to go ahead anyway, because a) M.F.K. Fisher is really a great writer and b) my mom grew up in the same Los Angeles suburb some years later. But this actually might be the meanest book I've ever read, and yet it's about a community of Quakers.
Home Cooking: This doesn't really count, because I read most of the pages, and I really enjoyed some of the most that I read. (Huh?) Laurie Colwin remains a favorite comfort read, but maybe there's a reason why I only look at her stuff when I have a head cold. It's a little too cozy, even when it's aiming for nasty; maybe M.F.K. Fisher should show up with one of her crazy murderous cook anecdotes.

Currently not being abandoned: Blue Mars. I'll finish this trilogy if it's the last thing I do. But damn, Kim Stanley Robinson--could you have seen your way to a single female character who's not either asexual or an emasculating whore?

Soon enough I'm sure normal order will return and reading will have flow while writing will remain a tortured mess. Until then...go A's!