How to Read More Books More Often

Today I want to veer away from talking about writing and talk about something else that we writers also love. And that is reading! If you'd rather watch this content in video format, feel free to click play below. Otherwise, read on!


Now some people might think this post is unnecessary. “You want to read more? Just sit down and read!” But for some people, this advice is not that simple, especially for those of us who have full-time jobs, families, school, and other life priorities to worry about. For some people, their days are so busy and filled to the brim with STUFF that it can be difficult to just sit down, unwind, and read a book. Not to mention, we have so many things that can distract us these days – a lot of what we can read is in digital format now and while this is great, it also has its consequences. You may start reading an ebook on your Kindle app, but get distracted by the hundreds of social media notifications and emails popping up at the top of your screen. So, how do we ignore the never-ending stream of distractions that always seem to be right in front of our faces? Try these 7 tips to help you read more books more often:
1.       Start a morning and/or evening ritual·         Tell me if this is what most of your mornings look like: you wake up 5-10 minutes past your alarm, rush to get ready, make yourself a quick cup of coffee, and dash out the door to get to work or school. And tell me if this is what most of your evenings look like: you’re sitting on the couch binge-watching Netflix when you realize that it’s suddenly 9:00, you haven’t eaten dinner, and you’ve spent way too much time in front of the TV. As much as I hate to admit it, this is what both my mornings and evenings used to look like. Rush to work, burn myself out at work, come home and relax for hours until it’s time to go to bed. Sound familiar? ·         So, I’ve actually been working really hard at creating morning and evening rituals to avoid these traps of excessive nothingness. Now in the mornings, I set my alarm for 30 minutes earlier so I can go for a run outside before the Texas humidity creeps in and kills me. And at night, I have an alarm set on my phone for 9PM. Once that alarm goes off, I stop whatever I’m doing, put my pajamas on, brew a cup of tea, and curl up in bed with a book. I block out time, from 9:00-9:30, every weeknight to read. And you know what? When you make something a ritual, it becomes a habit and it becomes something you look forward to doing each day. Are there still days where I want to binge-watch Netflix? Of course, and some days I do. It’s all about balance, though.·         I would recommend making your ritual either at the very start of your day or at the very end. Why not in the middle? Because you’ll get distracted. You’ll sit down to read and be unable to focus because you’ll be thinking of the 18 other things you could be doing besides reading. “It’s not raining, I should walk the dogs. The house is dirty, I should clean it. I’m running out of clean clothes, I should do laundry. The dishes are piling up in the sink, I need to run the dishwasher.” You can tell the things I get distracted by have to do with chores and cleaning. Hello, Type A. But if you make your reading ritual in the morning, you can carve out some “me-time” and get it done before things start piling up to distract you. Or, you can do it at night once you’ve done everything for the day as a way to relax and unwind. Try reading just 20 pages either in the morning or at night and you’ll be surprised at how much more reading you’ll get into your day. Even if you can only devote 15-30 minutes of reading each morning or evening, you can read 20-30 books per year. Not bad, right?
2.       Speed read·         Okay, there is a common misconception when it comes to speed reading. This is not a magical technique that allows you to blur through pages and scan words where you hardly understand anything you just read. It’s simply a technique to speed up the actual pace of your reading so that you can read more in less time with the same understanding as if you’ve read at your normal pace. A couple of tips if you want to try speed reading is to use a pointer. Try running your index finger beneath the text on the page. This keeps your eyes focused on a specific point on the page and keeps your mind from getting distracted. After a week or two of adapting to using your finger, your reading rate will be boosted considerably. You can also try “practice reading”. This means reading slightly faster than you can actually comprehend.  Try doing this with news articles and other types of text where you don’t need to glean every single detail. This will train you to read without needing to subvocalize (which means repeating the words in your head), and eventually you’ll be able to do this with books and read at a faster pace.
3.       One book at a time·         Okay, I am guilty of not reading one book at a time. I normally have at least two I’m currently reading. Trying to multi-task between books can be a waste of time. I would say to not read two books at once if they are in similar genres, like two fantasy books or two sci-fi books. You may end up confusing the worlds and characters and this will just backtrack your reading progress even further. But when I’m reading two books at once, I tend to read a self-help/motivational book as well as another book, whether it’s fantasy, science fiction, or contemporary. This works for me because there is no way I would get the two confused because they are COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. One of them is telling me how to live my best life and offering advice and the other is a story I can fall into where I’m transported to a different world. See the difference? So, unless they are in different genres, try sticking with just one book, finish it, and then pick up another.
4.       Carry a book with you·         I carry a physical book with me ALWAYS. It sits in my car while I’m up in my office working. On my lunch breaks, sometimes I will grab a meal and go to Starbucks and sit outside (weather permitting) and read. There may be times throughout your day where you might be forced to wait, whether it’s at a doctor’s appointment, in a line, during a break, or traveling. Having a book with you means that those moments aren’t wasted checking social media for the umpteenth time.
5.       Audio books·         I love audio books. If you’ve ever been to Texas or lived in Texas, you understand that it is a giant state with giant cities. I live in Houston, but not really. I live an hour and a half north of Houston. It takes me 45 minutes to drive to work every morning and 45 minutes to drive home. That’s 90 minutes, or an hour and a half, of precious time that I could be reading! And while it is definitely NOT a good idea to read a physical book and drive simultaneously, there is a way to get your reading in – by listening to audio books.·         I normally listen to TED talks during my morning commutes, but audio books are another great option if you spend a lot of time in the car. Most popular books have audio formats and while they can be expensive, you can usually rent them from your local library for FREE! Don’t forget about the library, folks. It’s a great resource, especially if you’re strapped for cash.
6.       Have another book ready before you finish the one you’re reading·         Having a TBR (to-be-read) list of books can be great motivation to get you to read more. Many times, when we finish one book and don’t have one lined up to read next, we can sort of “forget” to read because maybe going out and searching for another book you’ll enjoy reading seems like a chore. By having a TBR list, you’ll know exactly what you’re going to read next and avoid the hassle of “finding a book as great as the last one”.
7.       If you aren’t enjoying a book, stop reading it immediately·         This is a hard one for me. When I buy a book and start reading it and invest some of my time, even if I’m not enjoying it, I find it difficult to put it back on my bookshelf knowing I will probably never pick it up again. Why? Plain and simple, I like to finish what I start. But I’ve come to realize that if I’m not enjoying a book, reading 20 more pages probably won’t make me enjoy it anymore, and if I do finish reading it, it’ll more likely than not feel like a waste of time and I’ll wonder why I didn’t just put it down and start reading something that I actually would have enjoyed in the first place. I know it can be hard, but if you’re not enjoying the book you’re currently reading, then what’s the point? You don’t owe it to anyone to read that book, so tuck it back in your bookshelf (or donate it to a local library) and move on.
So, there you have it, 7 tips to help you read more. What it really does come down to is using your time well. So many of us mismanage our time and spend too much energy on social media or watching TV, things that, when you really think about it, don’t add any value to our lives. They are time wasters, ways to relax and do something mindless after a long day. And that’s okay some of the time, because there will be days where we’ve done so much that all we want to do is something that requires nothing. But don’t make these do-nothing activities a large part of your daily schedule. Manage your time well so that you can do things that add value to your life, like reading. If you write down everything you truly do in a day, I think you’ll find a lot of blank spaces that could be filled in with reading (such as a commute – hello audiobooks) or two or three hours where you seem to fall into a black hole of Netflix and nothingness.
Now for a few announcements: This weekend, I have my very first author event at Katy Budget Books in the greater Houston area. The event will be on Saturday, June 25th from 2-4PM, so if you’re in the area and want to stop by, I’d love to meet you. 


I will also be attending Leviosa Con in Las Vegas from July 8th-9thwhere I will be selling and signing copies of The Alpha Drive, so if you’re going to Leviosa Con, please stop by my table!
Thanks for reading, and I'll see you guys in the next post!


Until next time,


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