I’m not the type of person who only reads one book at a time. I usually have at least one fiction book going and one non-fiction. But these days, it’s getting out of hand.

Currently I’m reading Unfinished Tales by Tolkien, Kothar and the Magic Sword, a collection of Clark Ashton Smith stories, the first Brother Cadfael mystery, and Heart of Stone by Ben Galley. I’m also supposed to be reading the Lais of Marie de France. That’s just the fiction.

Non-fiction includes 100 Essays I Don’t Have Time to Write and the Freelancer’s Survival Guide, and I just picked up Learning by Heart by Jan Stewart and Corita Kent, and David Morrell’s The Successful Novelist. I am also kinda, sorta reading Middle-Earth and the Return of the Common Good, and Writing the Character-Centered Screenplay.

Is this too much?

I kinda, sorta think this is too much. The fiction is suffering because I can’t get fully immersed in any of these books. I’m bopping around too much. I know I need to commit and just read ONE all the way through, but it’s been hard. My attention span is garbage.

The non-fiction is different because it’s not so much about immersion as it is about information. I can flit from topic to topic when it comes to information and not lose the thread or the thesis of each book.

But for the fiction, I feel like I need to pick one book and read it all the way through. Trouble is, I’m not sure which one to pick first. I’m afraid if I commit to any one in particular, I’ll forget what was happening in the others and have to start them over.

The reason I want to commit to one fiction book at a time is because I’m worried that my garbage attention span is only going to get worse if I don’t act now. I need to put in the effort to get my brain to be more focused; I need to regain the skill of sitting with a single work of literature and reading it straight through. I’m not against having multiple books going at a time, but I also think it’s good practice to stay with one book without detours. Something tells me this is an important skill and one I need to cultivate again.