Why We Simply Must Read.
Plus stuff I've been digging.
A lot of my friends look at how much I read and marvel.
And it’s not that much. I don’t think it is. If I’m ever waiting or just have a pause in my life, I read. I carry a Kindle or a book. I listen to audiobooks on my walk (thanks Libby.)
I turn the pages.
My ride or die goal is three chapters, thirty minutes or one short story. (I renamed my little tiny YouTube channel: Three Chapters a Day. )
When I hit one of those goals, a little bell goes off. A little bit of relief. I’ve met a goal and I know it sounds strange, and a bit grim, but I don’t want to get to a place where reading is a chore.
There is a fascinating aspect of humanity that we need stories. We physically need them to survive. Some people aren’t into music, some aren’t into going to an art museum (LIKE ME)—but I believe that music, art and writing are necessities, up there with oxygen and coffee.
But like I said previously—reading is the best way to change our hearts, to open them to possibilities. Yes, art shows us something outside of ourselves, and music is transcendent. But I find those are temporary. I am moved in the moment albeit grateful, I find I cannot look back on much art and say, “I changed.” I have my favorite music, and I enjoy it at a visceral level, even some nostalgia baked in there, but it doesn’t change me as much.
Movies. Yes, they are impactful without a doubt. (I write this as I’m listening to the Fellowship of the Ring soundtrack. The LOTR movies did actually change me. I’m seeing them again with my partner next year in the theatre. Why? Because we can.) But a book I can return to over and over (with the above exception, I don’t rewatch movies. Very rarely. This is one of those exceptions.)
I’ve said before that I read The Hobbit every year. I’m on year three, so it’s not that long of a ritual, but I find Bilbo’s transformation from homebody to spider-slayer to be a message to Ryan McRae—go out into the world, seek adventure, and go where you haven’t gone before. It doesn’t have to be travel, I have done my fair share, my friend. But something new and something brave. Video games: homebody/Baggins. Writing a novella for the world to see: brave/Took.
You start to see humanity in those pages—in what we struggle with and who we want to be. And I want to know.
I think if reading isn’t your bag or you want it to be more of your bag—I think three chapters of anything is a fine start. I could give you a reading list, something that says, “start here” but I think what we need to read is more of a vibe than anything.
You’ll see this a bunch from me in 2025. Starting January 1st.
Three chapters a day1. 30 minutes a day. Short story. Pick one.
800-1,000 words a day. No failing.
At the end of the year, that’s 1,095 chapters done. At the minimum, 292,000 words written. A hefty goal. Even if I do it for 300 days, that’s 900 chapters and 240,000 words. No small feat.
Very Took. Very Baggins.
I’m reading All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker. This book about children who get lost (no spoilers) is unraveling me and it is just blowing me away. If you need a thriller—look no further.
I’m also reading, a bit every day, Meditations for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman. It’s about how we think about time, why we feel overwhelmed by information and what to do about it. I’m known to be a hoarder when it comes to information, and this has helped me just let it go. I don’t have to save everything in Notion or Obsidian or whatever.
Also digging into the Hobbit every day. Not a chapter, but just a smooth journey into Bilbo’s life with a new copy this year (and every year until I go on the boat with the elves, I guess.) He’s about to meet the spiders. My poor Bilbo.
Take care and I’ll see you in the 2025. I’m taking a small pause from the Youtube just to reload my creative cannon, but who knows what tomorrow brings.
I realize that chapters are very subjective. Chris Whitaker whom I mention below has SHORT chapters and the book has about 240 chapters so my little three chapter rule doesn’t work, but boy does the 30 minute rule arrive to save the day.