It's been a long time, but I feel like I'm sorta almost kinda coming outta a deep dark place. Not a negative place, mind you, but one created by my desire to do too many things at once. I subscribe to roughly a dozen magazines, and I read them cover to cover. If I don't, then they're not worthy of my subscription.
A year or two ago, I started heavily tech writing, as you probably know. All this writing and deadline crap ate into the time I actually got to idly read, as opposed to produce. And the magazines and comics piled up, higher and higher, eventually meeting my hip.
I, happily and deliberately, got out of technical writing a year or so ago, and began catching up on my reading. And finally, as of today, my pile is down to a meagre ten or so issues. I've unsubscribed from three, reshifted my magazine storage system a few times to handle all the issues I was completing, and for the last month or so, been fervently attempting one rag a night (which I've nearly done).
The increased rate was due to a new (old) focus: Gamegrene. When MovableType went evil, I started a prolonged immersion into Drupal, which took a month of feverish activity, patching, and CVS merging (the new site is finally live - take a look!). It was a good time to do this - with the upcoming GenCon, there were a number of new books I wanted (you can read all about it in the 2nd Edition announcement). I promised myself that I'd give those books my full attention when they came out, which meant catching up on everything else.
Thus began my descent into the darkness, surrounded by stacks of magazines, bookmarks, and emails. I'd happy to say, unlike Sadako, I am making progress clawing my way out. I've no more bookmarks to read (well, for right now - I fear my "Daily Reading" collcetion), ten magazines to go, and only about 30 emails to answer.
Excelsior!