Looking at this year, it has been a BAD year for my blogging. But then, it's been a bad year for reading, too. I've watched my reading time dwindle to almost nothing, and to make matters worse, that one book a month I managed to squeeze in just wasn't working for me. None of them were working. If the choice was between playing Criminal Case on my phone or reading, honestly? I'm picking playing a game. I have no wish to read. No excitement about reading.
Part of this was a result of being overbooked in real life. My oldest just finished up 6th grade and his hugely important watershed program. Which meant all last year was eaten up in nonstop fundraising. Now that that's over, I'm starting to see the light, but the problem remains: there are so few books I care to read. SO FEW BOOKS.
There are hundreds published every month or two in romance, but it seems like most are just not what I'm interested in. I don't like dark romances. I don't like the high concept Regency. I don't care to read New Adult. I'm not fond of YA, although I recently finished one that bucked that trend. (Review to come). The erotic romance/romance line has become so blurred, it really doesn't matter anymore. Basically, the genre has moved far, far away from my reading taste, and as a result? I'm not finding books that get me excited about reading again. So I've scaled back my time in Romancelandia. I'm still reading Urban Fantasy. I'm reading mystery. Romance? Not so much.
All of that is to say that changes are coming to the blog. Hopefully positive ones, since it's FALL BAKING SEASON. I watched a ton of cool classic movies over the summer that I'll be featuring on Wednesdays. And I'll be reviewing some books in genres I've neglected over the last few years. Here's to the fall blog reset.
Showing posts with label reading slump. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reading slump. Show all posts
1/7/15
How Do You Defeat a Mega Slump?
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.
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.
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