Sobriquet 42.26

The following post was originally published on 5/27/08.

Again, I will have to keep this entry on the brief side. After a wonderful weekend spent with family and friends (and cats, birds, and guinea pigs), I found myself a bit out of sorts this afternoon. While my mood was not particularly bad, I had a hard time returning to my work-centered existence. This is why:

1. Having finished Diary of a Bad Year, the only reading I really need to do for my research at the moment is literary criticism, a type of writing which, unlike fiction, I generally do not enjoy reading. With a few exceptions, literary criticism does not capture my imagination in the same way a good novel does. I mean, sure, it can be edifying, even interesting, but I'd much rather read Coetzee than criticism of Coetzee's fiction. So, there was a letdown there.

2. Going from a full house to an empty house can be a tough transition.

and

3. I got distracted. Really, really distracted. This resulted, of course, in a significant amount of procrastination which, in turn, meant that I would be doing my work late at night, when fatigue makes focusing difficult.

But I did what I set out to do and read some of the criticism. It just took me all day to get around to it.

For tomorrow: Dissertate or read at least two essays.