To be honest, a lot of my reading time has been taken up with news. Now that we in America are headed toward a fascist state, I feel a responsibility to read all of the news. I've become a New York Times and Washington Post subscriber. It feels like my duty as a citizen to read all of the things. The papers send articles to my inbox all day long. Every selection seems essential. 

I mean, obviously, I can't keep up. My New Yorkers are piling. I have student poetry sitting there, and that's not even optional for me to read. I'm the teacher, and I assigned it. 

For the first time ever in my 52 books-per-year pledge (this is the fourth year), I'm behind on my total. "1 book behind," Goodreads tells me. A pit shoots through my stomach when I read that. 

What is happening?

So, I'm going to take back a bit of normalcy starting right now. In addition to reading the news, I have to read fiction and be a writer. Creativity and imagination are enemies of fascism, too, in addition to obsessive news consumption and active resistance. 

So here: I am listening to an addictive audio book - A Window Opens by Elisabeth Egan. It's right in the wheelhouse of the book I'm trying to write, not in plot but in tenor: suburban mom takes ambitious, busy job in Manhattan when she used to be home two days per week. Her friendships suffer, her marriage suffers (though, to be fair, that's not entirely her fault), and it seems like her children are growing and changing without her noticing. Something has to give, and it will. It's inevitable. It's going to happen in the next thirty pages, probably.

I'll keep you posted.