You may not like it, but this is peak performance.
Actually, you probably would like it.
4 to 5 hours of work, ladys and gentlemen.
That’s actually close to a regular working day. 4-5h of core work, 2h of correspondence (e. g. Zoom meetings, bullshit emails), 1h of various breaks, e. g. lunch. Sounds perfectly reasonable to me.
The difference is that she is doing something she most likely enjoys and most of the rest of us chums are prostituting our time for money 💰💰💰
If one of the best speculative fiction authors to live only needs 5 hours of work a day to create The Left Hand of Darkness and the Earthsea series, then maybe it’s something worth exploring.
Most of us work 8 hours a day and probably produce nothing “valuable” except shareholder profits so…
Someone told me recently, that no good thoughts happen after 8 pm. I took note of this and it is surprisingly accurate. After 8:00 I find myself very edgy, and prone to negative thinking/anxiety.
I think this depends heavily on your circadian type. For me, very little of use happens before around 3pm. This is independent of waking routine.
Okay, I’ve been convinced. Which of her books should I start with?
The Ones Who Left for Walk Away From Omelas. A 19-20 page short story about what a “utopia” truly is. (Yes, yes, “we live in an society”)
Her non-fiction essays on writing, and reflecting on her body of work are also very good. She was an incredibly forward thinking writer, and one of my favourite authors of all time.
The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas*. Not to be pedantic, but that completely changes the message of the story.
Personally, I wouldn’t start with Wizard of Earthsea, that book was published in 1968 and definitely has the prose and flow modern readers are not as used to, especially for the fantasy genre.
I read Left Hand of Darkness for school, but it was The Dispossessed plus her non-fiction essays that got me into her. Omelas is also a good short story starting point, and I think it’s only 20 pages.
I’m not super versed in modern Fantasy, in what ways does Earthsea flow different? I always thought the first book was a very accessible Hero’s Journey deal and a good jumping off point
The ones who walk away from omelas is uhh apropos nowadays and a very short story.
Intracom in very funny and the read by the author version is cozy
The lathe of heaven is a good un that always leaves me feeling discombobulated
Gwailans harp is the b-side of the read by the author lp that has intracom on it and is also quite nice.
The Earthsea books are probably what all ya fantasy should try to be.
I’m a fan for yet another reason? Yeah. That checks out.