A lost day...

Uggggggh!  Sorry for uttering something so unprofessional, when the title of my blog has 'Professional' in it, but today has been a complete write-off and I've achieved nothing.  I shan't go into detail as to why because I know I'll probably say something I'll regret - and what with this being the big ol' World Wide Interweb it is bound to be seen by someone it shouldn't - so I'll just say that it feels very clear that what is precious to me (my time on my Wednesdays) isn't viewed in the same light by others.  Just because I'm at home, apparently it means I'm free to do whatever other people want.  It's clearly okay to monopolise my time with other (trivial) things, indirectly implying that they are more important and consequently that my whole writing thing is a waste of time.  And if I try to make the point (however tactfully) that these days are for me, for my writing, for what I'm trying to make into my job, then it's also clearly okay to dismiss that as if I was just being awkward and had said that I'd prefer to stare at the wall instead of go along with their plans.  As I said: uggggh! 

So in the absence of any progress whatsoever to report on (can you tell that I'm somewhat narked?), I thought I'd show you this:

It's today's page of my '3650 Things to Make You Happy' calendar.  Check out item number 2 - 'easily digestible chapters' (there always seems to be something specifically related to me on this calendar - it's a bit spooky!).  This absolutely sums up the problem I had with The Children's Book (see Booklog #12)...it was completely undigestible!  Like chewing your way through a huge and really tough steak - takes ages, isn't enjoyable during it and at the end you're left unsatisfied and overwhelmed. 

Musing on why this bothered me so, I realised that 99% of the reason I read is for entertainment - it's rarely to give my brain a serious workout (that's what puzzles are for!).  I don't want to have to work hard to empathise for the characters, or constantly have to try and decipher why they're doing whatever they're doing.  I want the author to make that relatively easy for me, by giving me digestible chapters to work with.  I might make this my own Golden Rule, if I can think of a catchy name for it.  Any ideas? 

Oh and also - what's the deal with 'waiting for tree sap' (number 8)?  Waiting for it to do what?  I don't really get that one! 
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