A writers' strike!

I first heard about the writers strike when I was reading the Sunday paper. No biggie, I thought, I still have my printed words, right? Wrong! If this strike goes on for too long – actually I think another day or two, and I will no longer have Jon Stewart. Without him where and when will I get my daily “moment of Zen”? Most likely I won’t.

            

In a perfect world, I would be able to miss David Letterman too because of the strike but he is on too late at night for me to ever have been able to stay awake to catch his famous “Top 10” list. Okay, as a disclaimer, I only catch The Daily Show with my buddy, Jon, at the 8 p.m. time slot – again too late at night to catch the real, live episode.

            

It will be a few weeks, I heard before the soap operas like General Hospital are effected by the strike – if it lasts that long. No loss for me as I haven’t watched them in ages. I think the last time I did, Luke and Laura were celebrating some anniversary or another and I switched it on by accident a few years ago (maybe it was a week or a month, who knows) and they were celebrating another anniversary. Wow, they really need to get new actors and storylines as I remember watching their tortured love story when I was in high school.

            

While the talk of the writers’ strike is all the rage right now as in “Oh my gosh what will we ever do!?” I would like to remind people there are things to do other than watch television. True, my family wouldn’t believe that I know that, especially when it comes time for “Pushing Daisies” on Wednesdays or my sitcom marathon on NBC Thursdays, but truly I can find other things to do. I could read my towering stack of magazines, catch up on the books I have had to purchase in the past year but never find time to read. I might even find more time to get some writing done. Truly, if I actually sat down with a log of how much time I waste in front of the television, I could likely have written several novels. It is scary to think of how much mindless time is spent in the pursuit of... what? watching what someone else has written? Hey, I could have written that! should be the thought in every writers' mind each time they pick up a book, magazine or watch a television show.

So, for now, I will likely still watch the shows while they are "fresh" and not reruns but if they go into reruns (which, for my writing life wouldn't be a bad thing) I will pick up the laptop, plant myself on the couch and do my own writing. How about you?

Comments

[Robbi]

Hi Kristen,

Between my reading and writing backlog -- the strike might help me catch up! Thanks for writing... I enjoyed your site.

[kristen]

I'm convinced the strike could actually help the cause of reading...