I should be reading!

Happy Wednesday,

The only skills I'm developing today are procrastination and managing to function on as little sleep as possible. Next week is quite a heavy reading week for me but as a literature student, there's always reading to do whether it's required reading or additional. Arriving to the seminars having not completely finished a text makes me feel like a complete failure even if I have prioritised reading over sleep (this happened last semester when reading Frankenstein) and to top that all of, being surrounded by people who share your love for reading means you hear about amazing books which my eyes and hands want to gravitate to despite being nothing  to do with my degree at all. Oops.

On a positive note, I finished University earlier today as the Gender and Writing lecture was cancelled due to a staff illness. This is the first time that this has happened and after looking up the slides online, I am a tad disappointed that it was cancelled. Sometimes I wonder if I even study English or not as these slides appear to be written using words I didn't even know existed and terms that would be helpful for history, psychology or politics students but just add to my confusion. Tomorrow is the seminar and it's extremely awkward when you can barely understand something without even attempting to analyse it. Plus I only know two people there and one is the lecturer and there's another presentation looming!

For next week one of the texts that I have to read is John Steinbeck's 'The Grapes of Wrath'. I picked this text for my A2 comparative essay but only focused on the beginning after I realised how long it would take me to read and analyse something that is near the 500 page mark and is in quite small print. Just thinking about this task makes me feel even more tired by the minute. I can sit here regardless of how little I have slept, and read a book of my choice or watch Netflix, but as soon as I pick up a set text, my brain tells me that it's time to eat, go for a walk, sleep, listen to music, check social networks- basically anything that causes me to put the book firmly back on the shelf.

I suppose it's the little things I have to reward myself for. Reading 20 pages of a text that I feel like I've been reading for hours and hours is the type of dedication and perseverance that makes me feel accomplished especially when I finish it and can add what I've read towards my 2016 reading goal.

The weather in York was also beautiful today. I wore a dress, coat and a backpack (I would insert an image if I had one but I want your screen to remain intact) which is very me but also out of my comfort zone. At least I look like I've got things together.

So I'm off now to eat, organise, write notes, watch Pretty Little Liars and perhaps read at some point too!

Hope you're having a lovely week,

Mcsophwar xox