Speed reading, Achilles’ unreliable heel, and Hamartia

What does Achilles’ dodgy heel have to do with reading fast?

When I was in secondary school, I spent most of my after-school hours reading about Zeus’ unfaithfulness, Hera’s pain, Persephone’s abduction, and Achilles’ unreliable heel on Microsoft’s digital encyclopedia, Encarta. (I am so sad it’s discontinued.)

I finished reading all the entries about Greek mythology in record time (I can’t remember how long, but it was fast). In a few months, I traveled through the tabs and met Loki and Thor, Romulus and Remus, Osiris and Anubis, and Ananse.

It was the same with all the books I read. Hand me a good-sized novel in the morning, and by evening, I’d be on the last page. I finished reading Ken Follet’s The Pillars of the Earth within 24 hours.

For a very long time, I’ve regarded my speed reading as a gift, but I’ve started seeing it as my hamartia in recent years. Just like Achilles, my gift leads me to my downfall.

A good draft requires an eye for detail. It demands pausing and questioning word choice, structure, and grammar.

And my speed reading makes it hard to do any of these. I miss (missed?) a lot of mistakes in my draft, even after revising them.

And yes, I know the solution is to read slower. But it’s hard.

You see, I never learned how to speed read. It’s something that came naturally to me. Even on occasions where I am intentional about my reading pace, I find myself chunking entire phrases and scanning words. It’s a struggle.

And no, reading out loud is not a viable solution when you have a 3,000+ word draft.

However, speed reader or not, error-free drafts are not negotiable.

So, to keep my job and a roof over my head, I have enrolled in an editing course by Shani Raja on Udemy. I’ve doubled the number of times I read through a draft in the CMS before pressing publish. And I publish the draft in development mode and give it a quick read-through before making it public.

I’m hoping these two things will help me pick up mistakes easily and avoid publishing drafts with errors.

Let’s see how it goes. (😅 There will probably be some typos in this draft, but we move.)

P.S. You might have noticed that this draft doesn’t have a lesson or a takeaway. That’s the point of this newsletter. I just want to share my struggles and triumphs with you. Your inbox is probably full of people telling you what to do, so why add to it? I’ll share tips or advice if necessary, but other than that, it’s just me sharing my bloopers and the good things that happen in my life.

Speaking about good things, here are two beautiful experiences that occurred recently.

I moved into an apartment some months ago, and I love my new home. Here’s a picture of my dying plant and my coffee table. And here’s an article about why being tethered to a home is important to me.

Secondly, I attended a gallery opening and exhibition on Saturday. I met the artist and owner, Oyindeka. She is as warm and as beautiful as her acrylics.

We had the best conversations about art, consumerism, and desire. If you’re in Abuja, I 1000% you head to her gallery. It’s at Suite 3D, Adisa Plaza, Gudu.

Till next time 👋🏾.