Summer. It's hot. I'm lazy. I put my book down on the table, but I'm on the bed which is just so far away from the table, and Netflix. Netflix exists. Ooo, all of Merlin is up. Also Friends is due for a total re-watch, right? It's only been a few...months since you watched all ten seasons, right? Good thing I have a bag of chips with me in bed. Because that kitchen, with its tables, is just so far. Sooooooo faaaaaaaar.
Not a recipe for productive reading or blogging.
Ahhh, summer, the season I always say I'll get ALL THE WORK DONE and READ ALL THE BOOKS and WRITE ALL THE WORDS and instead I watch all the TV and eat all the ice cream if I can ever muster the energy to roll my semi-comatose lump of a body kitchenwards. My bigger problem lately has been TOTAL laziness and procrastination when it comes to blogging. I was in a terrible reading slump earlier in the summer, but I've been reading a bunch more lately, but blogging? Words? Think fingers brain words do? Arghgsk3495hkj??
But anyway. Reading slump. I cured mine and YOU CAN TOO. When my brain is sick with the summer lazies, these are the things I try to jumpstart it into reading mode.
Put my laptop somewhere far out of sight/turn off the internet/move into a cabin with Thoreau and live on pine trees and fresh air and pretension
Dis. Con. Nect. No, you don't have to catch up on your entire Twitter feed this morning. Let it go. IT'LL BE FINE. ALL THOSE PEOPLE WILL STILL BE THERE.
Rediscover a favorite author of old
THE MAGIC OF REREADS. After convincing a number of people to give my beloved Tamora Pierce a try, and having them fangirl at me in my DMs about SHIPS and HEROINES and BOYS and KISS SCENES (looking at you, Angie, you wicked temptress), I said to hell with it and did a quick reread of a few of my favorite Tamora Pierce books. And it totally got me back in the reading zone.
Get thee to some sequels
It's like CHEATING. You already know the world and the characters. Your brain has, like, 30% less work to do. I'm not great with the mathematical number shaped symbol things, but that's a pretty good work stat if you ask me.
Picking up a backlist book I've been meaning to read for ages
Everyone's got That One Book (or fifty) they keep saying they MEAN to read but they never DO. JUST GO PICK IT UP. Do it. Screw the pressure of review copies or new releases or what everyone else is telling you to read. And if you don't like it, eh. Try another. No pressure.
Cheat on that TBR
This is mostly helpful for bloggers, but if there's a highly anticipated book that you've got your greedy bloggers claws on, but it doesn't come out for 47 months, but it's all you want to read--READ IT. Seriously. Just read it. It's that donut that's been staring at you when you're on a diet. BREAK THE DIET. EMBRACE THE DONUT. Crap, now I want a donut. This is your fault.
Take a break
Eh, slumps aren't the worst thing. You'll get back in the swing of things. Maybe some time away will give your brain some time to nap, recharge, and swing in that summer hammock. Eventually, it'll get back in the reading mood. Absence makes the...brain...grow...readier, as they always say. Since now.
So what do you to to get yourself out of a slump? Are you also suffering from the summer lazies, like I am?
Posts
This post is everything! First, YES ALL OF MERLIN ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS. Second, I'm just enjoying time with my family, watching all the TV (HAI NETFLIX I LUB YOU) and eating all the ice cream (because summer so DUH) and it's just been great! I haven't read as much in terms of new books but rereads? Alllll the time! (also now I want to read the Tamora Pierce books I own...dang it)
ReplyDeleteGreat advice! I’ve been the total opposite this summer though, haha! I’ve been reading and blogging a ton, but I haven’t made time for watching TV shows and movies that I said I would this summer. Will have to do that soon before school starts up again in September. Great post!! :D
ReplyDeleteI have been SO LAZY this summer. I've had to do stuff which totally irked me but otherwise I've been too hot to function. I am ready for fall. I've not commented on blogs, replied, written posts :-( FEELING BEHIND. But it's all okay. Glad I'm not alone, haha
ReplyDeleteI hate summer reading slumps so much! Summer is my only time where I can be really productive reading-wise. When I can't read anymore though, I listen. I go through audiobooks and those usually bring me out of my slumps
ReplyDeleteI've been going through random spurts of "YAY I WANT TO READ EVERYTHING", tempered by spurts of "I DO NOT WANT TO BE READING". I've accepted it as part of my summer life though, and just go along with it. If I feel like reading, I will; if not... I'll do other things. Like binge shows or go outside or laze about ;)
ReplyDeleteYesssss perfect advice as always. July has been super lazy for me, I did NO reading on my Laguna vacation. And I had a pretty bad reading slump back in March/April. Totally did what you said. Took a break. Read what I FELT like reading (including backlist), cheated on the TBR with books people were yelling about (mostly you. Simon, Uprooted, ALANNA). Reread books (all of Raven Cycle, Ella, some HP). It helps soothe the brain haha. And it made me want to keep reading. But I still go through spurts like Alexa said above. Sometimes watching Frozen or P&P for the millionth time is more appealing. YOUR POSTS ARE ALWAYS MAGNIFICENT, don't ever worry about the blogging aspect of anything :)
ReplyDeleteI get the "weekend lazies". I find it weird that I read more throughout the week when I'm actually working than on my days off. There's just something about doing absolutely NOTHING on weekends and so I tend to read less than I actually plan to. Usually, though, I try to treat myself on weekends - read the books I really want to, not the ones I know I should - whether that's a faraway ARC or a new release I've been dying to get to.
ReplyDelete"Cheat on that TBR"
ReplyDeleteBWAHAHAHAHA. I love it. I am currently cheating with some movies. I get super lazy around this time of the year as well.
This is the story of my July. I read and blogged a ton in June... and then that productivity basically took a drastic nosedive the last thirty days. I have barely read anything, and it's a miracle that there's anything posted on my blog. I love all the tips and many of these have definitely helped me break out of slumps in the past, but I particularly love your last point about just taking a break. Sometimes I get too focused on being in a slump and forget to use that time to recharge and focus on other things I love to do! Thankfully, I've been pretty chill this month about my case of the lazies and have loved using the time to finish my ALIAS re-watch :)
ReplyDelete