It's no secret that I've been suffering through a serious reading slump. The emptiness of the blog last year is a testament to that.
The anatomy of a slump for me is this:
Too many real life obligations (kids, kids' sports, school volunteering etc).
Too many unsatisfying reads in a row
Genre fatigue
Social Media kerfuffle exhaustion
In short, I had no time to read and didn't like what little I managed. I tried mixing up length. I tried doing audio. I tried rereads. I tried limiting my online interactions. Nothing seemed to work.
And not being able to read was making me bitchy. Not just a little bit, but full on mega-bitch. I wasn't happy about not reading, but I couldn't seem to find my enthusiasm. I'm still struggling to find it. Reading used to be fun, but lately it's become a chore. I've stopped reading ARCs for the most part because it wasn't fair to the authors I was reading. Books that may have worked for me when I was in a normal reading mood were just not cutting it for me. My DNF pile was rivaling my TBR one.
I'm still not back to where I used to be, but I've made some important changes to help ease me back into reading. The first one is seeking out non-romance recommendations. I'm going to try to bring the mystery books back to the blog.
The second one is making better use of my alone time at night. I'm going to try for a blog post per week, even if it's not a review. I have plenty to blather about that isn't just grading a recent read.
The third is to head back to print. I've had better luck lately with physical books than ebooks. I'm not sure if that's because I tend to read on my phone and am easily distracted by texts or calls, or if it's just because the physical book stares at me, reminding me to read it, while the Kindle app is easily hidden.
Has anyone else had this problem? How did you fix it? I'd love to hear some other ideas.
I got nothing. You've already tried all my go-to suggestions. I think you're on the right track though with your "alone time," finding a blogging routine again, and print. If you're like me, Lord knows you've got plenty of print lying around.
ReplyDeleteMy mega-slumps are usually tied into Real Life, and then it's I'm Just Not Reading. I'm tired. I just want to zone out. So I turn on the TV and watch a Law & Order rerun instead of picking up a book. Or, I'll be honest, I'm just feeling lazy. Which would be why I just finished my first read of 2015 on January 6. And it was a category romance less than 200 pages. I was in full-blown post-holiday lazy mode.
One thing that seemed to help me was non-fiction on audio. I normally listen to mystery, suspense or crime on audio, but I kind of hit a wall with those in November. So I started listening to non-fiction and that really helped get me through my romance reading rough patch.
Good luck!
The mental exhaustion is a big part of it, I think. I'm the president of our PTO. Which sounds like it shouldn't be that bad, but honestly, there have been times I've been up at midnight trying to finish stuff for that when I could have been using time reading. Fall is the worst season for me, and I'm hoping next fall I do a better job making time for me.
DeleteI'm going to try to incorporate more non-fiction, too. Our library has a sucky collection of pretty much everything, but maybe I can proactively request some better and more timely stuff. I don't think nonfiction audio will work for me,though, since I tend to conk out while listening at home and have no real commute. This is the suckiest thing ever for someone who loves books. Blah!
I am also in a reading slump right now. I think it has something to do with the last few books just were not good and now I am looking at more on my read list and I am afraid I will be just be wasting my time.
ReplyDeleteI think that's how they start! You have so little free time that when you waste it on a bad book...ugh. So frustrating. I've started being more cautious. Reading just the samples. If I can put the book down easily, I give the book a pass.
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