Forced to read

It’s June! How did that happen… 

In case you were wondering, the wedding last weekend went off without a hitch, and the cake turned out beautifully. I’ll get a picture up on Instagram as soon as I can, promise. I think my biggest takeaway is that I’m glad it’s over, and I’m ready to get back into the normal swing of things.

Unfortunately, I forgot to actually plan for a new month starting. So, this month’s topic is thrown together based off something I noticed a few months ago: you guys seem to like it when I talk about me.

That feels weird, but it’s what I noticed during my all-about-Rani series. So, I think we’ll try to expand on that a little bit. Let’s talk about me, and what I’m up to.

I’m calling this week “Rani Reads.”

As most of you know, I’ve always been at least something of a reader, but I’ve not always been someone who’s constantly reading. I know, that just sounds wrong, but it’s true. I love reading, but I don’t always actually do it.

Today then, let’s talk about making time for reading, and how I do it, personally.

People say that writers do two things, primarily. We write, and we read. Well, that’s true, but it also means that we can easily get a little tired of both. Which is very true for me. I get tired of reading, and I get tired of it in a hurry. Strangely, I do better with longer books than with shorter, despite that.

Most of my time ends up going to work and to my own writing, aside from trying to have a life (I find that at least semi important, in the long run). I imagine it’s the same for every writer out there. After all, most of us didn’t give up our day jobs to write. For a lot of us, writing is something we do because it’s our passion, but not something we do for the sake of making money. Even for professionals, that’s quite often the case.

Because of that, because writing is something we do on the side, it’s not always easy to make time for the other half of things: reading. Writing takes up a lot of time. So does work, family, having a life. But we have to fit reading in there somewhere too, don’t we?

A lot of writers have made the switch to audiobooks, so they can do multiple things at once. I just can’t do that. I can’t. If I’m listening to an audiobook, I’ll fall asleep or I’ll get so enthralled that I can’t do anything else but listen. Because of that, I have to actually make time to read. And most days, that means I have to force it.

I know, I know, I always advise to never force things that don’t come naturally. But it does come naturally for me to read! The problem is that by the end of the day, I don’t feel like I have the energy to put into it. I have to force it. If I don’t force it, I won’t do it. But once I force it, I will get into it and really enjoy it.

It’s a weird thing, adulting.

But that’s it. That’s what I do. I pull an adult and I make myself do what I know I should do. I make myself read. Right now, I’m trying to read multiple things at a time, to keep myself interested and keep myself going. It helps a lot, interestingly.

I won’t deny it though. Most of the time, when I sit down to read, I don’t actually want to read. But once I get past the fifteen page mark, I find myself greatly enjoying it.

It works for me. *shrug* 

What do you guys do, when you don't feel like reading but you know you should?

[love]

{Rani D.}