5 Strategies to Overcome Reading Slumps

We recently overcame a reading slump. It’s not that we weren’t reading at all. We were: newspaper apps on our phones, recipes, and book reviews. But we simply weren’t finishing books. Together we acknowledged that we were in a slump, and we shared strategies that helped us get back to reading voraciously. If you’re finding that your reading has waned, one of these ideas may resonate with you and get you back into books.

• Try layering books. If you are reading a book you aren’t loving, put it on pause and pick up another one. Trust that if it’s meant to be, you’ll be drawn back to it. Otherwise, let’s all give ourselves permission to let go of books we’re not really enjoying.
• Switch up the reading medium. Have you been reading a physical book? Try reading on a Kindle or other electronic device. You can adjust the font and text size to maximize reading engagement. Built-in dictionaries help with vocabulary. And you won’t feel overwhelmed by the physical girth of a lengthy book.
• Do you know about the Goodreads Reading Challenge? It’s a great way to set a goal for the number of books you want to read in a year. It’s satisfying to mark a book as read when you’ve finished it. If you’ve never set a yearly reading goal and don’t know where to start, we recommend counting how many books you read last year and bumping up the number by a few.
• This handy tool can help you determine a realistic goal. Spend a few minutes reading an excerpt to determine your reading speed and the number of books you can read in a year based on the number of minutes you’ll spend reading each day.
• Get recommendations. Start asking people for their top three titles. It’s easier to start a book that you know someone else loved.

That’s what’s been working for us. We would love to hear what works for you. Head over to the Discussion Board and share your ideas. Let’s remember, we all go through phases. Give yourself some grace and a little nudge with some attainable goals, and know that your reading slump can be temporary, just like ours was.