On rereading slowly
Third pass through the same forty pages. The first reading was for the plot, the second for the sentences, and this one seems to be for the pauses between them. Nothing new on the page — the change is entirely on my side of it.
Reading notes
A slow log of books, essays and half-finished thoughts. Mostly kept for myself, in the order things happened to be read.
Currently on the desk: a worn paperback of collected letters, two library renewals overdue, and a notebook that has become mostly lists.
Recent
Third pass through the same forty pages. The first reading was for the plot, the second for the sentences, and this one seems to be for the pauses between them. Nothing new on the page — the change is entirely on my side of it.
Started the year with full paragraphs. By June everything had collapsed into fragments: three words, a page number, sometimes just a date. Oddly the fragments are easier to return to.
One keeps the rhythm and loses the plainness. The other keeps the plainness and reads like a report. Kept both open for a week and decided nothing.
Found my own handwriting in a book I did not remember finishing. The note disagreed with me, politely, and was better argued.
Margins
Lines kept without context, because the context was the least interesting part. Reordered occasionally. Never finished.
Archive