Please Read: An open letter to all my readers
02 Mar | 7 Comments »Dear Friend and Reader,
I stir the bubbling pasta for my family. Chicken is in the oven. But, my mind is on characters in The Swan Thieves and the unknown woman Robert keeps painting. I’m not thinking about the two mortgages, the car that has used up our AAA tows or my four year old’s recent epilepsy diagnosis. I’m not thinking about the medical bills, credit card debt or the dirty house. No, I’m busy wondering if Robert’s muse, since not his wife or his lover, could be an imaginary person. It perplexes me, this mystery woman. Smiling, I finish making dinner and notice for the first time in weeks, I feel . . . calm. It is in this calmness that I write to you, and hope you will read on and share your thoughts.
It’s almost been a year of Imagination Soup – as I consider the next year, I feel like a change is in order, and I wondering what to do. As it is now, Imagination Soup is overextending me. I’m writing about too many topics, I’m juggling parenting two kids, freelance writing, social media consulting, a new book blog for Colorado Parent magazine and did I just say yes to volunteering at my daughter’s school?
It’s been a year filled with high highs — newly freelancing, learning blogging, meeting lots of amazing individuals online and in person and feeling smart again — and low lows –you read the list — more stress than I can describe.
After our last trip to the E.R. with my four year old, I coped by spending the weekend in bed reading the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. The books gifted me with a trip of imagination where heroes won against evil monsters. The characters engulfed much of my consciousness. I choose to think on them, on my heroes and not my baby girl who wasn’t healthy and brain damage risking seizures. I couldn’t think on that right– I needed Percy. And when I was done with Percy, I could get out of my bed and start to deal. Well, mostly.
Then, during my first visit to therapy, my therapist suggested I ease anxiety with reading a book. “What kind of book?” I asked, suspicious that she would recommend a stack of self-help books and not at all interested in that much thinking.
“Anything. How about Madeline L’Engle?” she replied.
Seriously?
Yes. What a perfect therapist fit for me! I LOVE books, and read voraciously.
What I didn’t know, but do now is that reading helps stress, anxiety, sleeplessness and the like. A remarkable number of psychologists recommend reading! A University of Sussex (March 2009) study found that reading a novel worked better for stress than a cup of tea, a walk, or listening to music. Sweet!
As I consider the future of Imagination Soup, I want to hear from you the reader.
What do you like? What do you think could go?
Would you be interested in book therapy – hearing from people (authors or whom ever) about books and when or what therapy they provided? Would you want to share with each other about your own most meaningful books? Do you totally hate this idea?
Do you want me to keep the focus on kids?
Should I think about book therapy in conjunction with writing therapy?
What about a forum and a blog?
I write this with no plan – only too many questions – and I hope you’ll write me back. I trust you will tell me your ideas with thoughtfulness. Thank you in advance!
Blessings,
Melissa
(You can comment below or send me an email — meltay@comcast.net.)
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I always find that reading and writing is great therapy. I am most stressed when I do not get a chance to do either. Perhaps it is my inability to cry at my own problems that allows me to enjoy crying with characters that I’ve only met on the page. Laughing at those same characters is good therapy, too. Books provide an amazing release. I think that is a side of writing and reading that most people never address. I will be interested and wholeheartedly supportive if you go in that direction.
I think you are brilliant. Books provide an avenue for exploring, inspiring, motivating and creating. Through this we discover who we truly are and where we want to go with our own lives. We discover our strengths and our weaknesses, and learn how to manage both through the characters on the page. I find your direction inspiring, what a pleasant form of therapy and a way to develop problem-solving skills! It would be great for our children to realize the value of the written word vs. electronics. Who doesn’t want an excuse to escape? I think this could be beneficial for all ages and I believe your passion could help many.
Who’s Robert?!
the crazy guy in my book, The Swan Thieves
I think what a lot of people want/need when it comes to reading is the permission TO read. We’re all maxed and stressed and tired and overwhelmed, yet picking up a book seems like a luxury. Scientific proof that it de-stresses and actually aids the mind, body and spirit would give people permission to take that time out for themselves.
And…if we’re being good to ourselves, then we’re ultimately better prepared to be good to others.
I’d be fascinated to find out what kind of books do that for people. I know there are a lot of people who felt guilty for reading the Twilight series yet, the forbidden fruit aspect of the YA series might have what helped it work.
I’d don’t care for sad, dark writing (let that writer’s catharsis stay outside my reality) and I really enjoy uplifting stories with strong characters who challenge my own thoughts on life and the human condition.
I also enjoy a good variety of Non-Fiction books that show me a view of the world from others’ frames of reference.
I don’t know if any of this really answers your questions or helps you in any way, but I’d love to see your brilliant mind go to work for us adults and free us up to be kind to ourselves and self-medicate with literature.
Melissa–I don’t know what part of the brain reading (and writing fiction) triggers, but I hear ya!
Along those lines, maybe your book column–wouldn’t be be great to feature books that parents love to escape to? Childhood classics and new stuff.
Good for you for taking a moment to evaluate it all. Cyberhugs to you.
brilliant. real. inspiring. both you and the ideas.