Dear Writer, Wow. You signed up for the paid subscription. Thank you for that, by the way. I’ll do what I can to make it worth it. Okay, so… if you’ve read the basic stuff on this site or if you’re familiar with me, you know I went through a pretty heavy trauma a few years back.
I completely understand about finding it hard to fall into the story. I grew up with my parents being constant readers. Books were everywhere. Somewhere along the line, both stopped reading. My mom just told me life got in the way and she lost the habit. I remember thinking that would never happen to me.
And then it did. Last year, for about three months, I couldn't find anything I wanted to read. I was teaching ELA and so exhausted every day from that and then writing -- finding time and energy for reading was so hard -- and then again this year with remote teaching. I didn't want to be my parents, losing the love and the time and the ability to lose myself in books.
I started just by rereading old comforts -- and not rereading the whole thing. I'd go straight for my favorite part. I'm a huge romance reader, so going for the angstiest or sweetest scenes, or even just rereading the ending. Within a few weeks, I was tearing through books again. That definitely helped me.
I completely understand about finding it hard to fall into the story. I grew up with my parents being constant readers. Books were everywhere. Somewhere along the line, both stopped reading. My mom just told me life got in the way and she lost the habit. I remember thinking that would never happen to me.
And then it did. Last year, for about three months, I couldn't find anything I wanted to read. I was teaching ELA and so exhausted every day from that and then writing -- finding time and energy for reading was so hard -- and then again this year with remote teaching. I didn't want to be my parents, losing the love and the time and the ability to lose myself in books.
I started just by rereading old comforts -- and not rereading the whole thing. I'd go straight for my favorite part. I'm a huge romance reader, so going for the angstiest or sweetest scenes, or even just rereading the ending. Within a few weeks, I was tearing through books again. That definitely helped me.
I hope you find what works for you :)