A new proposal

Community comrades, I would like to try something different this week. Me, not you, you can go about your business in whatever way you please, of course. But I would like to read differently this week. I have written previously about my somewhat challengingly conscientious vocal reading habits, and in Reply All, my response to Vocal's solicitation of our aspirations for 2024, I laid out my plans for readjusting these reading habits to manage my own capacity, as well as to free up more time for engaging with writers new to me. This largely involved letting go of the pressure to read everything anyone I had subscribed to writes, de-prioritising those creators with whom a one sided relationship is the prevailing norm. I am on no high horse here, understand, I am both an imperfect reciprocator (though I try) and an inconsistent community adventurer. Miraculously, my piece about reading LESS on Vocal did not place in that challenge!

This past week however, I noticed myself feeling again that I was giving superficial attention to great pieces in order to try to get more great pieces read. And so, this week, I'm going to try doing something different. Heads up, I may be woefully underequipped for this, but it might be good for both of us to try.

This week, I am going to read very little that pops into my notification window indeed. Instead, I would like to delve more thoroughly into a small number of pieces. I am hesitant in proposing this, beating around the bush a little, because I don't know if I am up to the task. I am no teacher, I last took a class pertaining to English in any form in 1996, and I am about to have an adolescent Irish Wolfhound houseguest for two weeks, which means I will mostly be working and walking, or dragging an exuberantly loving giant off two overpowered human siblings with an understandable distaste for canine face washes. However, this is what I propose. If you would like some criticism on a specific piece, post me a link below and I will have a go. The aim here though is not to say nice things about your piece of writing, the aim is to pick holes alongside underscoring strengths. I might hurt your feelings. I'm not going to be trying not to. Please, hold in mind I have all the expertise of your dad. Assuming your dad is no literary critic. Just because I say it doesn't make it the only truth. It has been known that I am...wrong. I also might be completely lost for critique because this is not something I have practiced first! But if anyone is up for giving it a try, lets go!

Caveats will be that if 49 people send me 30 minute articles, I aint getting through them in a week, am I? So, you know, sorry if I fail. And there is little chance of me reading anything tonight, my 14 year old is about to arrive home from a whole week 1000 miles away from me, and I intend to spend my evening gazing unnervingly at him in adoration.

Otherwise, lets come at it in the spirit of curiosity and see how this goes! And if anyone wants to reciprocate (no obligation whatsoever, this is not my purpose here), please have at me, I can take it.

As a postscript, I am feeling a grave sense of anticipatory performance anxiety around this, but I don't want to spend the remaining words I need to meet the minimum word count going on and on about not being good enough, except now that I have, I not inclined to delete it so...