Lets talk about reading slumps!

Hello readers!

As the title suggests, I want to have a conversation around reading slumps.

None of us are safe. We all eventually fall into them. Either losing motivation, time, or interest. You see yourself slipping into a land of not caring about reading, not finding a reason to pick up a book, whatever it may be. Weeks go between pages and here we are, 6 months later and you are still reading that ARC that has now been published.

Yikes, right?

Lets start by defining what a reading slump is. According to Urban Dictionary:

So what can we do to prevent this 'nightmare'?
Everyone is different, but sometimes just identifying why you are in a slump may help.

1. Identify what is happening for what it is. 

   As they say, the first step is to accept you have a problem. That's okay, we're here to get through this together. . 

2. Identify any factors contributing to your slump.

   Genre: Sometimes, it can be pretty simple. For example, I know I can devour some fantasy novels, especially if they are YA because they are a little less complex. I read to emerge myself into my imagination. That being said, sometimes when I venture a little too far out of the genre of fantasy is when I stop losing interest. Identify that maybe there is something about the genre of the books you've been reading that doesn't actually appeal to you.

  Format:  Another simple setback could be the format you are using to consume your books. I typically dislike audiobooks. It's been a back and forth relationship, but I've concluded that anything I may want to reread I'm content with using audiobooks for. Anything I'm reading for the first time or is a shorter series, I know I'm not going to enjoy. I've also had luck with consuming larger series using audiobook and I think part of that is the familiarity and eventual comfort that comes with sticking with a narrator long term. I have also found that I have pretty good luck with e-books because of the accessibility. I always have an e-book available or have one started in case I get stuck at the Dr. office longer than expected or I know I probably don't want to tote a physical book with me. It's also super convenient because we already spend so much time looking at our phone screens that opening the Kindle app instead of scrolling through the dumpster fire of Instagram's' popular page would be just as easy. 

   Consumption: We all enjoy committing to a Goodreads goal. However it's not that serious if you only read 25 books and 6 of them were re-reads. You are reading, which is what you enjoy doing and all that matters. 

   Pacing: Consumption leads me into pacing. I've been very slow to admit that I am not a fast reader. It's not because I struggle with words or have a hard time reading, it's mostly because my mind wanders WAY too fucking much. I'll read a few sentences and find myself dwelling in exactly what the pictures are building up to be in my head. It's what makes reading so enjoyable to me.

3. Volume does not equal worth.

   I somewhat touched on this with pacing and consumption, and at this point the hill I die on may be made out of bodies that have already talked about this, but social media is a major downer. We see others having 100 books read per year and I'm over here with my 25 thinking, what kind of free time do you have that allows 100 books? That is two books a week roughly. Is that physically possible?

   Then you take a step back and think about how your life compares to others. I spend a SHITLOAD of time outside year-round. I work 5/11 hour days in the Winter and 4/10 hour days in the summer with a 45 minute commute. I have a family, and dogs, and other hobbies I enjoy just as much as reading. If I don't spend time rotating through those hobbies, I'm going to burn myself out on at least one of them.

  As I mentioned before, I tend to dwell in the book as my form of absorbing the material. Does that person reading two books a week really enjoy and absorb the book they've read? They totally could, they may find it thrilling to put audible on 2.00x and just plow through a bunch of titles. I'm not that person.

4. Find what motivates you.

   I had a 10 year reading slump. In high school I would read all of this YA contemporary books about girls with self esteem issues and drug problems. Then I tried graduating to adults with self esteem issues and we'll just shorten it to problems and I stopped being interested.

    A couple years ago I heard someone mention the Throne of Glass series, and after not wanting to commit to the 6 out of 8 books or whatever that had already been published I deferred to A Court of Thorns & Roses and here I am.  Talking to myself, or hopefully you guys, about books on the internet.

   What kept me going from there was finding the 'book-ish community' and using different ways to challenge myself as motivation. I'm an introvert, I don't branch out very often from my normal routine, and I don't reach out to talk to knew people often. By creating a blog, and Instagram, and a Twitter, I was challenging myself to put my thoughts and feelings out there. 

    I'm not saying you have to create a 'bookish persona' on the internet to challenge yourself. Sometimes it's something as simple as creating a 10 book Goodreads goal, or trying to find books that fit within the season, or even easier, a read-a-thon. I participated in like 4 read-a-thons my first year exploring the bookish community. I enjoyed all of them because although I felt overwhelmed, it gave me a purpose to my reading other than enjoyment and allowed me to navigate the TBR I had created in a very short period of time. 

   At the end of the day I don't have a lot of people from the book-ish community that I talk to all the time. I do this for myself and thats why I type up these ramble-y posts and do weekly book reviews. It's so I can put my thoughts out there and if it helps any of the rest of you thats neat. 

At the end of the day, the point of reading is to enjoy the story you are absorbing. As long as you are doing that at your pace, you are just as successful as the person only reading the latest YA release and plowing through novels. 

Tell me some of your thoughts on reading slumps in the comments below.