I have been struggling to keep motivated with my Landing Book Shelves project lately, as you might have noticed. There has been a distinct lack of words appearing in the blog stream over the last couple of months. The reading part of the Landing Challenge has been making some progress but then the writing aspect has been falling by the wayside. Whether this has been to do with the so-called winter blues (I know it is supposed to be spring now but you cannot tell for the wind and rain), trying to tackle another project or life generally getting in the way, I am not sure. The sum total is a sad lack of posts written up for the Landing blog. I am not doing much better with the Landing’s sister blog Curiously, Creatively either. I am clearly being neither curious nor creative and that will have to change ere long.
Maybe I should have added that (in all honesty) a tendency to become sucked into reading the daily news on various online newspapers is also responsible for my poor output. The only thing that stops the rot is that the Irish Times limits the amount of free articles that one can access in a week. Once I reach my weekly quota then I have had it, no more news. While I appreciate that the company’s primary motive is pecuniary, I am grateful that the Irish Times cares so much about its readers wasting their time online that it blocks their viewing after ten articles. Without that consideration, I would be wasting even more time than I do already. Sadly, the Guardian and the Telegraph are not so public-spirited and I could lose myself in news and comment threads for hours.
Having said all of that, I should point out in my own defence that I have entered a couple of writing competitions this year. Therefore, all is not yet lost as I inch my way through 2015.
Nevertheless, as we move into spring, I intend to ‘up’ my blogging game somewhat, so watch this space….
Tales From the Landing Book Shelves 
It’s easy to be too hard on oneself, especially with the reading projects one constructs! (cf. my own Northern Lights Reading Project). Reading time and reviews come at their own pace, and I know I am in it for the long haul. Being led to read elsewhere is not bad, just part of the reading life. I am sometimes self-critical for not reading enough news publications, so you see I admire your taking detour to be involved with the issues of the outside world by informing yourself. I take from your post the interesting idea that I should visit the Irish Times, and see what’s there. I look forward to whatever blogging comes from the reading you’ve been storing up, and in the future.
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Thanks for your lovely comment. I think it is always hard to get the balance between pushing yourself yet not being too hard on oneself. It is easy to come up with challenges, not so easy to see them through! Good luck with yours too.
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