writing and television

I’ve written before about how little television I watch. I do catch part of the morning news, and when I’m heating up my hot tea during the week I have been known to catch a few minutes of Rachel Ray, but please don’t tell anyone that.

There are times when I’m sitting down and actually watching, but that’s the exception, not the rule, as was the case on election night. In the evenings when our feet are up we listen to jazz and I am surfing my iPad. The only things I record are Giada at Home and Mexican Made Easy. Terry has her favorite shows which keep the DVR somewhat busy, but I just take a quick look as I pass by.

In her course Writing Creative Nonfiction from The Great Courses, Tilar Mazzeo recommends that people who want to write for a living, or at least for part of their living, not own a TV at all. She says that television is a story-telling medium and by watching it you can have your story-telling needs met and not need to tell your own story.

I have no illusions about making my living by writing, as much as I would love that to be the case, but I do see her point. Even as a blogger I can see that not watching TV dramas and comedies perhaps helps me to be more productive in my own story-telling.

In any case, I don’t miss those shows, and I would rather be at the keyboard writing this blog than watching them. That, I think, is a good thing.