It’s the time of year we in the educating field love, almost-winter break time. Not a great time for the bank account (sad,sad falling numbers which will plummet in the next few weeks) but precious free time. Time to sleep. Time to write. Time to finish up projects, and most of all, time to read. ( I still have Insurgent waiting on my shelf to be picked up.)
I like way too many people live an over-scheduled life. I hardly have enough time in the day to get what I have to get done much less have time for the fun little extras like reading.
Barnes n Noble had a blog asking readers to tell them how they squeeze reading into their day. Some are silly. Some are genius. And others will baffle you.
So here’s my question to you, how do you fit reading into your day?
Street of Dreams 
Nice post! Aside from being a ferocious book-lover, I feel like I HAVE to read in order to continually improve my writing. It’s requisite. And I start getting literally DEPRESSED when I go more than a few days without reading anything. To answer your question, I’m disabled and can only work extremely part-time, so I actually have ample reading time (though the more obsessed I get with a current writing project, the less I read–as it should be!)
–Love and Liberation–
Jan Smitowicz
Ideally have books that I LOVE to read and would drop everything in preference to reading. At the moment I have a strange phenomenon on my hands, which is that because people know I love reading, they have lent me books they love. And I feel obliged to read them. But I think I need to buy some more books for myself that I feel more passionate about.
I do the bulk of my reading in bed, so I make it a point to go to bed at least an hour before planning to sleep. If it’s a really good book, I go to bed earlier. If it’s an exceptionally good book, then I resign myself to being up reading until 1 or 2. Paying the next day for lack of sleep is an equitable trade off.
Personally? As a new father that works full time I thought I’d never see a book again. But I’ve dove into Audible full force. It’s incredible. Especially in the instances where authors with amazing voices read their own work like Neil Gaiman reading Neverwhere or David Sedaris (sp?) reading his new book Let’s Discuss Diabetes with Owls. I just listen to them while I work or do things around the house or when in the car and it feels pretty good.
I’m writing a book on this very topic. It has to do with limiting my sleep to seven hours. Unfortunately, in the process I’ve found myself trapped with no time to read.
The tentative title of the book is “Catch 22/ 7”. Either that or “The Strife of Pi”.
If someone has no time to read how do you expect them to read a book on making time to read? 🙂
Good point . . . perhaps the only solution is a picture book? 🙂
May I recommend recording an audiobook?
I’ve tried a few before on trips. I might need to while I’m working out 🙂 get more reading in
They’re great. Especially Gaiman or Sedaris books where they read them themselves
I’m another audible fan! I read while I’m mucking horse paddocks, washing eggs, or weeding. Love my audiobooks!!!!
Like everything else – it’s a matter of making it available to yourself. I read last thing at night, and if the book is gripping I’ll read a little longer. I also put a little bit of time aside at the weekend – sometimes I switch the weekend paper for a book. Again, this is easy if the book is gripping.
If this sounds like hard work (i.e. an effort to get out of whatever you ‘should’ be doing), I think of it like a kid going for a bath – once you get into it, you don’t want to get out.
If it’s not in the morni g when I wake, or in bed before I fall asleep, it’s on the john, really! Any other time during the day is a bonus
I read before going to bed. Usually a novel. Then, in the morning I make myself a cup of tea, go back to bed and read something that will connect what I’m writing that day. For example, these days, I’m working on a crime novel with a psychopath and so I read in the morning The Wisdom of Psychopaths by Kevin Dutton. At night I read to relax.
I read on the public transport, before i go to bed, sometimes in the morning when there is time. i just try to squeeze in time whenever for reading. it always feel so good especially after a day of constantly talking to people.
I read in the tub. It’s my scheduled me-time. If I’m reading an e-book, I slip my Kindle in a waterproof map pouch I got in the camping section of Walmart. I stay in there until the water gets cold. If it’s a really good book, I’ll add more hot water.
I love this idea!
Gosh, I read every day, before going to bed or while cooking dinner and waiting for the pot to boil. You can always find time, even just for 30 minutes 🙂
Staying up too late reading in bed. Bathroom. While brushing teeth. Waiting rooms. Waiting for my server to start while working. Pretty much wherever I can.
Now that I have Kindle and Wattpad apps on my phone, I read a lot in snippets, like waiting for the chiropractor or my coffee. Otherwise, it takes a genuine sick day when I can’t do anything else to get through a book.
Honestly, I fit reading into my schedule the same way I do with writing. Little amounts every day. It’s all about consistency. I try and write one chapter per day and so I always like to read one chapter per day as well. It’s nothing overwhelming and something I can definitely tackle in the couple of hours I have for freetime.
At the moment I haven’t had time for reading. What with NaNoWriMo and finishing edits on another novel as well as a full time job and a little bit of a social life reading has suffered. I do like my audiobooks which I can listen to at the day job but over the next few weeks I’m going to try and get into reading before bed again.
Not an easy task, dear Rachel. Everything around us divert us from our main goal, disperse us from our soul. We need to develop inside us the power to converge energy…Have a nice Christmas! Cheers from Lisbon!
Just making it more important than telly is one, silly but one can do with out a vie box with nothing on. and usually in bed half hour. squeeze.. but that is only if I read 😀 Keep smiling.
Barely. I used to read all the time, but now I’m lucky if I read two or three books per year. However, I do spend time blog surfing and have the fortune of reading the works of the great writers in the blogging community. So there’s that 😉
Kindle on my phone or tablet when I have a free moment and Whispersync when I’m at the gym or on the road. These two things have significantly increased my book consumption!
As above – no telly, and have less sleep! I read until I can’t keep my eyes open…sometimes I wake up in the night and read on my Kindle with the light on..
I just weave it into my day like anything else. If I have some free time, instead of catching up on my backlog of Regular Show, I’ll sit down with whatever I happen to be reading at the time. It’s just a matter of choosing to invest my free time in reading instead of something easily, like not reading.
I have very little time to read. If I’m not at college, I’m travelling to and from college, or at work, or studying, or maybe at my boyfriend’s house. When I have a lot of college work to do, I don’t read in bed because my brain just can’t process anymore words.
Definitely need to make more time for it. I miss reading!
The moment I get my hands on a book I really like, it’s just hard for me to let go. I would bring the book to school and read it on the way and back. And when I get home, I’ll get something to eat and get to reading again. Before I sleep I would read more, and then I’ll keep it beside my pillow so that I can read again the moment I wake up. But now, it’s not really like that. It’s like my passion for reading has vanished. I hope I can find the will to read again soon.
That has happen to me before. if I’m lucky I find a book that reunites my passion. Though as of late, I haven’t found it yet.
I have been known to take a book along on my daily walk. Probably not very safe to read and walk at the same time, but certainly a more interesting walk!
-Amy at http://www.momgoes.wordpress.com
The same way all middle-aged (or near enough) men do…whilst sitting upon the snow-colored throne.
Mostly online bits and pieces
I love reading! My over-scheduled life definitely doesn’t let me read when I’m in the middle of the hussle and bustle of college life by taking 15-18 credits a semester. So winter break and summer break are the only times I become a bookworm. I need to read more!
I’ll be back to that life next year!
With great difficulty 🙂
Luckily, I have a job that is slow in the winter months. I have time to catch up on some reading. I found the best way to find the time is to TURN OFF THE TV.
so true! the tv sucks away life!
I use to read a book a week, now I rarely read a full book or any at all. I do need to get back reading. I agree, tv does suck away life!
I don’t know how NOT to fit reading into my very busy life. I grab bits and pieces of time – standing in check out lines, if I am a passenger in a car or bus, waiting for a carry-out order to process, doctors’ and dentists’ offices, and so on. I just grab the moments, especially while waiting for the timer to go off on the oven for the evening meal or before bedtime. Out of my addiction to reading grew my passion for writing.
Just took a look around your blog – very nice!
I am lucky I’ve really never needed a lot of sleep, and that gives me an extra hour or two that others might not have in a day. Sadly, this extra time ends up quickly filled with responsibilities like kids, or obligations like work. So, I carry my books wherever I go (including the bathroom) so they can be read when there’s a moment to do so. I also steal ten minutes here and there while sitting at my desk at work and a few moments before bed, even if I’m exhausted. It just has to be done – life is too dull without the written word.
so true