Reading Slumps

As of this month, I have experienced my first reading slump in quite a while. I am not one of those people who can read ten books in a month. For a great portion of my life, if I read one book a month, I considered that an accomplishment. But with joining the BookTube community, I have noticed that I feel pressure to read more books. I know it’s not really expected and no one is going to chastise me for not doing it. But it started feeling a like a personal homework assignment about a month ago.

And then this awful thing happened. I remembered that reading was supposed to be fun and relaxing, not work.

To be fair, I have not had the most of relaxing of ventures lately. Loved one had to go back into the hospital again, I got a rejection a job I desperately wanted and was more than qualified for, and hurt myself really badly (as mentioned in a previous post). I am sure that all these things culminated in stopping me from reading.

If I can’t relax, I can’t read. I will go over a page three or more times, then realize that I don’t know what the hell it said. The last two books were good, but I couldn’t connect with any of the characters. And not to the fault of the writing or the author. My heart just wasn’t into reading.

I have also been trying to get the first 1/3 of a new book (a full length novel) written down. I have had trouble writing more nearly a year now. I haven’t been unproductive in that area, but I am very aware that quality is lacking. With this current WIP in my mind all the time, I find that my mind wanders into that world as well rather than the one I am reading about. Which arguably is a good thing because I am getting some work done at least in one portion of my life.

So here’s to having a more productive month in July.