This is not so much a post about writing as it is about reading. But then again, you can’t have writing without reading, so ultimately it’s about both. I’ve long maintained that if you want to be a writer, then you must read. And you must read a lot. It’s just one of those universal laws of life – a given.
You can’t have one without the other, it’s just not possible. I’m a writer who loves to read but often I find that I physically can’t.
I have 6 kids. That’s a lot of people living in our house. It’s also a lot of sports equipment and now that the weather has gotten colder, winter jackets and backpacks that, more often than not, are draped on any open chairs and coaches before they are hung up on proper hooks in closets.
This means that if I want to sit in a chair, I usually have to move at least 3 items off of it first.
That can get really old.
The proverbial straw that broke this camel’s back came on the day when I cleaned off a chair in order to sit down and read. But then it was dinner time, so I went to the kitchen to start making the food and when the meal was over and I could finally go back to my chair to sit and read for a bit? You guess it, it was magically filled with kids’ stuff again.
Like the magical Strega Nona pot that spread spaghetti all over the town, my chair had seemingly created kid clutter from thin air.
It’s just not fair, how on earth can you compete against powers like that? I had had enough.
The next day I took one of my sons with me to a local consignment store. He patiently waited while I sat in each chair trying to find the one most conducive to reading. I finally found the perfect one, a gold-yellow chair with deep cushions that whispered “come, come sit and read your stories with me.”
We put the chair in the back of my car and brought it home where, with a little bit of pushing and shoving we put it in the corner of a storage room near a tiny table with a light. This is my chair, none of my children are allowed to look at it, let alone sit in it (and God help the child who leaves her coat on its beautiful cushions.) If something is on the chair it’s because I put it there, it’s because I want it there. My yellow reading chair is perfect, I have to climb around a few boxes to get to it but when I do, it’s a place where I can put my feet up, wrap a pink-rosed blanket around my shoulders and read to this writer’s heart’s content.
It looks pink here but it really is yellow.
About Wendy Thomas
Wendy Thomas is an award winning journalist, columnist, and blogger who believes that taking challenges in life will always lead to goodness. She is the mother of 6 funny and creative kids and it is her goal to teach them through stories and lessons.
Wendy’s current project involves writing about her family’s experiences with chickens (yes, chickens).
If you need me, I’ll be in my chair.
