Ask Me Questions

How to Read More

I get it, thinking you don't have the time to read because of all the other shit you have going on. Or wanting to increase the amount of books you've read this year. I've found this problem has increased once I got into my sophomore and junior year of high school. It probably would have been worse my senior year and probably this year (my freshman year of college) if I didn't figure some ways to get more reading time in there. That's what this part is going to be about today. I figured you guys had enough of the tags and asks for now, so I'll do more of an advice posts. (I also have a few more advice/story posts in the works too.)

1. Pick a book YOU want to read.

Of course, there's always those books you have to read for school and shit, but if you can manage it, I recommend reading more than one book at once. Personally, I don't find it that hard to keep track of the different stories, but I've also been reading more than one book at a time since 6th grade. My school pretty much forced us to learn to read more than one book at once. We had to read a class book, and a book on our own to take an AR (accelerated reader) test over. At the current moment (November 15, 2017), I'm reading 5 books: Principles of Anatomy and Physiology (A&P textbook), Psychology in Action (psychology textbook), Stanfield's Introduction to Health Professions (health sciences textbook), The Scarlet Effect (on Wattpad), and The House of Hades (reread). But, I'm getting off topic (as usual). The point is to read a book YOU want to read. Pick things that interest you instead of only reading the boring stuff for school (although my textbooks this semester are topics that interest me).

2. Try to read at least 1 chapter or a certain number of pages everyday or for a certain amount of time.

Try to read one chapter of your book a day or even just 10 pages. I get that sometimes when you read you just want to get sucked into the story and not only read one chapter or so many pages. But, reading a chapter a day or so many pages a day is better than nothing in my opinion.

3. Reread

Rereading isn't that bad. There's always going to be books out there that you haven't read but want to. It's a vicious endless cycle. Besides, if you're in a reading slump, rereading may just be the key to getting out of it. Also, if you don't have the energy to invest new emotions into a new story, picking a story you already love can remedy that. Oh, and final point, rereading a book you already read can help with learning to read multiple books at once since you already know what happens in the one you've read.

4. Try some challenges.

There's all kinds of reading/book challenges out there. Goodreads has one every year called called the Goodreads [enter year here] Reading Challenge. All you do for it is pick a number of books you want to read for the year (year runs from January 1 to December 31) and read whatever the hell you want. The first year I did the Goodreads reading challenge was my junior year (so 2016) with a goal of 36 books, and I read 52 books. So far in 2017, I had a goal of 48 books and have read 56 books.

There's lots of challenges out there. I found some I'm going to try next year like the ABC challenge and the series challenge. The ABC challenge is just to read a book from every letter of the alphabet. The series challenge has different levels and if you're interested message me and I can tell you what they are.

5. Bring your book with you everywhere.

Maybe not everywhere, but bring your book with you to places. You never know when you'll have a few minutes to read. This is a lot easier if it's an ebook or something you can pull up on your phone. But I get so much reading done when I bring my book with me.

6. Listen to audiobooks.

I'm not the biggest fan of audiobooks, but I do listen to them especially for classics or books that I just can't get into. Also, I used to drive 30 minutes to school and 30 minutes back home everyday. You can't read (at least safely) while driving, so audiobooks came in hand.

7. Read before bed.

Reading before bed is a good way to wind down and help you sleep better since you're more relaxed.

Well, that's all I got for now. But keep an eye out for some more advice/story posts in the coming weeks. I just need to sit down and actually write them.