Fallen Behind - How To Catch Up?!

[Rebecca]

As is typical for me I set my sites higher than my abilities on reading goal for this year. I really want to catch up though and stay on track.

What do you do when you fall behind on reading? I know I distract myself a lot with other things (browsing GR much?! ;) ), so I could add to my reading time by cutting out that sort of activity, but what else do you do to squeeze in those extra few minutes of reading?! My preference generally is that if I pick a book up, I want to read for a good amount of time. Just reading one page then having to put the book down makes me cranky. But sometimes I only have a few minutes here and there!

What sorts of things have you stopped doing in order to read more? No more long baths? Stopped watching TV? Or have you gotten good at multitasking?

I also find I read a bit slow too. I love to really absorb the book, make pictures of the scenes in my head, and all that slows me down. Any tips for reading fast when you do read? Or like me do you just give in to the imagery and plan to devote extra time to reading so you don't have to speed through every book?

[Kara]

I cut out a lot of TV. Now, I'll only watch a half hour or so of TV a day, and that's while I eat dinner. This is down from about two hours. This gave me an extra hour and a half of reading each day and has been incredibly worth it. There's nothing good on anyway.

[Anna]

I also have cut out the TV...but if I know I have the time for long bath, I take my book with me...I 'clean' house on one or two days a week, then straighten the huse on the other days, usually at night because I am an early riser, that gives me a couple of hours of reading in the morning...like today I got up at 4a.m....which is normal for me in the summertime...I do have to say that so many books have caught my eye that I get behind by reading books that are not on my reading challenges.

[Johanna]

I have definitely cut down on TV time, but even more from computer time. It is so easy to spend time on computer and while really not doing anything with it :)

I´m also a slow reader, partly probably because English isn´t my mother tongue. I am not a very imaginative person, I don´t stop to think about the people or places, I leave it up to what comes to my mind while I read, sometimes it´s not much but I don´t mind. The story is what I want to get to.

[Melissa]

I also cut down on TV .. I have always preferred to read.

[Nathan]

All you guys are better than me! When I need to read, I cut down on sleep... xP

[Melissa]

Trevor wrote: "All you guys are better than me! When I need to read, I cut down on sleep... xP"

Too funny!

[Nathan]

All you guys are better than me! When I need to read, I cut down on sleep... xP

Serious suggestion: I read about a chapter (maybe two, depending on the book) while I eat breakfast every morning. Breakfast is generally a one-handed meal so it's pretty easy, especially with my e-reader.

[Ronda]

I cut out TV and down on PC time. I read while eating lunch at work and on my days off I 'reward' myself with reading time during cleaning breaks.

[Lovejoie]

I find that I usually read less in the winter. My hobbies seem to be based upon the weather. As it warms up, I usually do a lot less knitting and a lot more reading. Plus, I don't watch a lot of T.V. Mostly a Netflix movie here and there. I'm behind on my reading challenge but I hope to make up the slack throughout the summer.

Happy Reading everyone!

[Rebecca]

Thanks all!

I've been talking with the hubby about nixing the TV since I'd like to save the money, we can usually find ways of getting to watch things we really want to watch (like Netflix, TV channels that post their shows online for free, etc) and I find I tend to zone out to the TV too much, where as if we didn't have it I would definitely choose other things. For now I'm making sure to have my Kindle in hand when the TV is on so I'm at least reading during commercials.

I need to start re-instituting reading during lunch time too. I've been so busy at work for ages I usually just do work while I eat, but I need to quit that. Taking the break time is important and I know I can still get everything done, even if it means staying 30 minutes longer because I took 30 minutes to eat/read! I just really want to catch up for my goal this year! I'm 9 books behind as of right now :(

[Sharon]

Joie wrote: "I find that I usually read less in the winter. My hobbies seem to be based upon the weather. As it warms up, I usually do a lot less knitting and a lot more reading. Plus, I don't watch a lot of T...."

LOL I usually read more in the winter. Once the weather's nice there is so much to do outside ... weeding, mowing the lawn, walking/hiking, softball.

[Nikki]

Sometimes I have to schedule time to read. Of course I have to schedule everything and sometimes reading gets put on the back burner. I am a little behind myself. I think the biggest thing is to not be too hard on yourself. There will come a time when you will read a lot. I have times where it only takes me a day to finish a book then others (like Feb) where it took me a LONG time to finish it. I should have just put it down but I couldn't because I kept thinking that it would get better...It didn't. Just do what you can and remember you have lots of time. :)