Life is busy. Life is distracting. Life is full of urgent things that pull you in every which direction! So how do you find or make time for your passions? For those things that bring you peace and joy?
No for real, I’m asking you that question! That’s the dilemma that faces us all. If you have suggestions on how to make time for your personal pursuits please feel free to share them. And yes; I’m about to share a few too.
As y’all know I love reading. I love my books and my book collecting! Reading is one of my heart’s greatest joys, and a day feels incomplete without the turning of a few pages. Yet it can be difficult to find the time to read (and review) with life vying for your attention. I haven’t figured out the proper budgeting of time yet but I do have a few suggestions of what works for me.
1) Make sure you always have access to a book! This might sound silly but when the time comes to read and you left your book at work then what can you do? Well there is one thing…
2) Read more than one book at a time! I know people tell me all the time that reading multiple books is impossible or too distracting etc… but then those same people tend to watch multiple tv shows without an issue soooooo…. it’s all in what you allow yourself to do I think. I normally have between 5-10 books I’m working on at a time and I love it. 😊
3) Speaking of tv shows…. well you have to give up time consuming things to make time for other things! I made a conscious decision to watch less tv so that I can read more. It means I miss out on some of the pop culture discussions BUT I get to enjoy more book discussions!
4) Find a book community that encourages reading! If you haven’t joined the Bookstagram Community on Instagram you should create a profile and join! Or join GoodReads! You’ll find people who love reading and sharing about the books they post! Doing something like an IG account is less time consuming than blogging but if you’re reallllllly serious about making books a priority….
5) Start a book reading blog! I use WordPress to host my site and I enjoy it. Having this helps remind me that I need to be blogging about books and how can I do that if I don’t read? That helps hold me accountable to reading.
6) Create a To Read bookshelf or list. That way you have reading goals. Setting goals can really help!
7) Lists with seven points seem more legit than lists without seven points so I’ve added a seventh point!
8) Read books that you enjoy! Let me say that louder for those in the back: READ BOOKS YOU ENJOY! Reading time shouldn’t be wasted on books you don’t like just because everyone says you MUST read them.
9) Don’t be afraid to quit a book (or series) and move on if you aren’t connecting to it. I thought I had to finish every book and series I started and if I wasn’t enjoying a popular book it was my fault and I had to make myself like or at least finish it. I can’t tell you how free I felt when I realized I didn’t have to finish every book! That I could walk away from it and find a book I connected with! FREEDOM!!!!!!
10) Plan a group read! You don’t have to get together, you can discuss it online!
11) Give up on sleep. There is only reading now.
12) But for real stop and examine your daily routines, keep a book close, make reading a priority, find friends you can share this joy with, set some reading goals, and decide what matters to you timewise.
That’s all I have for now! I’m sure there’s other ways to make more time for reading, so I might add a part two one day, but I need to be reading now! AND I want to hear your suggestions and ideas!
All The Stars Were Red 
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Nice pix!
I pretty much have abandoned tv/movies, except as background noise when I’m writing up my little reviews. That gives me at least an extra hour in the evening to read.
If I wrote a list like this, it would be identical! For me, the most successful methods of finding time to read have been always having access to a book and ditching TV. As for what I read, setting goals and finding kindred readers on Instgram have helped me become more mindful of what I read.
I, also, always have multiple books going at once. They are often so different from each other there is no way to get them confused. But they aren’t random books picked up on a whim, either. I have my devotionals, books meant to take a year to read (Currently, they are Evening by Evening by Charles Spurgeon and Renew My Heart: Daily Wisdom from the Writings of John Wesley by John Wesley); I have my Christian book (Currently, The Gospel in George MacDonald: Selections from His Novels, Fairy Tales, and Spiritual Writings edited by Marianne Wright); then my long-term read, a book, often non-fiction, that is dense or over 500 pages, (Currently, IT by Stephen King); and then I have my current general reads, which right now, are all Vintage Science Fiction. Once January is done, I’ll be moving to World War II fiction and non-fiction, as I have a stack and an ARC I need to read and review.
But as you said, making reading a priority is the start. That’s what I tell people when they ask how I can read so many books in a year. ~ L
Lol number 10 is usually my life.
I need to work on giving up books. I tell myself it sucks not to finish one…But if I’m not enjoying it, why waste time? I’ve never read a book that I started out disliking, soldiered on and then ended up liking it n
It’s hard to walk away from books! Even ones you aren’t enjoying! Take the one I’m reading now: Titan. It’s a train wreck but I want to see the wreck!