13
How do you get your reading "spark" back? (beehaw.org)
submitted 1 day ago by to c/literature@beehaw.org
10 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

hi! I have the problem that I think quite a few people end up with, which is that I used to consume books at a concerning rate in high school, but once I graduated, I stopped reading. I don't know if my somewhat brief stint in college knocked the want to read out of me, but I have a serious desire to go back to reading books and enjoying the stories in them. plus, I think it would help my writing if I would read actual books.

fanfiction is unfortunately a tough sell because I tend to not like how people write canons, but if by chance someone has any recs for Pokemon fanfic that is original character based, let me know! it's like the one media that works for me in fanfic land. (I know AO3 is currently out of commission though.)

I now have a Kobo Libra Color, and I've read a little on it, but I feel like I'm not quite "committing" if that makes sense? I don't sit down for an hour and read very easily, for example. I prefer the Kobo to physical books, mostly because I have nowhere to put physical books, and I would lose a library book.

I don't know if it's maybe cold feet or my attention span being poor?

what does everyone else do when they're struggling to read? have you experienced losing your reading "spark"?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 5 points 1 day ago

Building the habit is the important thing for me. I’ve gone through different parts of my life that I’ve read and not read, and the main factor is whether I’ve built the habit. 

This usually involves one of two things for me. Either setting aside time to build the habit; or making it as easy as possible to read and making that one of my main hobbies. 

When I was in my late 20s, I wanted to start reading more technical books. Partly because I find them interesting, and partly to help with my job. So I set aside 25 minutes at the same time before bed every evening, Sunday-Thursday. I read a lot of books that way, 25 minutes a day. I think I doubled it to 50 minutes at some point and also read non-technical things as well. I did that for years. 

When I was a teen, I read On Writing by Stephen King. In it, he says in order to be a good writer, you have to be a voracious reader. So he says to take a book with you everywhere you can. Waiting rooms, grocery store lines, whatever. 

I always struggled to carry a book around with me everywhere unless I had a bag. But with my phone and other reading devices, I started realizing I could replace some of my scrolling or news searching with book reading. 

I have an app on my phone, and I read every day because I’ve built the habit. 

I get as absorbed in books as I used to, but I’m getting older and I have other things to do, and sometimes it’s nice to take a little break anyway.

I keep track of how many days I’ve read, and today was 774 days in a row. I don’t read quickly, but I read plenty of high-quality books. 

Patience + persistence = progress.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
    •