Help Needed: I Want to Love Reading Again

Posted on

by fictionnochaser

I have to confess that i’m exhausted and part of that is because reading isn’t fun right now. It’s not a slump… It’s the internet.
Reading, I love. But I feel like i’m constantly surrounded with pressure and negativity. So I am taking a minute to figure out why I’m not enjoying reading and see what I can do about it.

It’s not the books

Yes, I took on a lot of ARCs (advanced reading copies), which is preventing me from mood reading all the time. Okay, I accept that. Sometimes mood reading is what we need to do, but I like the structure of due dates. Plus, I have had only 4 & 5 star reads this year, with the exception of one! The books are outstanding and they are not the issue here.

Is life just too hectic for my hobby?

This could definitely be a contributing factor. I’m exhausted and not sleeping much thanks to the third trimester of pregnancy. I JUST WANT TO SLEEP. LET ME SLEEP.

But, like most people, I have a full time job. And two hyper dogs. And a fairly active social life. And a tiny human to prepare for. So by the time I’m done with all of this, blogging feels like a chore some nights.

I’m tired of seeing the drama

Boom. I said it. Now, I stay out of the twitter feuds and usually don’t comment on the current drama.

But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t affect me. Honestly, I love to mindlessly scroll through twitter and then i’m sucked down a rabbit hole of the latest chaos.

And it’s bad for my moral. It’s bad for my mood.

Don’t get me wrong, I want to know about injustices and social issues that are threaded through the book world. I just don’t want to be suffocated by some of the entitled attitudes. We all have things that affect us and are important. But sometimes it’s drama just to be drama.

I Love how supportive the community is

This sounds weird following that last section, but I truly love the supportive side of things. The book community is amazing for friends and gushing about our faves. I found some of my favorite humans here!

But when is enough enough? Would going dark on twitter for a while help? Would the affect it has on my stats make me miserable? I don’t know the answer. Maybe I just needed to put it out there into the world.

Let’s just take the day to be kind to each other.

How do you handle this? Let me know in the comments!

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fictionnochaser

We review fantasy, paranormal/urban, supernatural, young adult, new adult, and romance books. But beware our reviews are snarky and full of spoilers!

20 thoughts on “Help Needed: I Want to Love Reading Again”

  1. I totally understand your feeling. I agree with every single thing that you said, and yeah the drama on Twitter that can happen can be so exacerbated to the point that it just makes you not want to be on Twitter anymore. Even if some of your favorite people are only on Twitter (maybe we haven’t exchanged numbers yet, or it’s just easier to keep everything in one Social Media channel) but then having to be bombarded with like you said, the entitled attitudes of some makes it hard to even ignore. I think taking a break from Twitter if you can will be great. And I’m so excited for you and your new baby ❤

    Liked by 1 person

  2. I totally agree. And drama for dramas sake is just childish. I have a 16 year old I get enough drama 😂. It’s supper frustrating knowing you need to promote some and then feeling like the play for is biting your hand. Facebook is out for me because I just can’t take the drama that will be there until November. So I guess this leaves Instagram. Sorry the long ramble but I have been going back and forth for a little while on what to do there too. If you enjoy blogging then slow down not stop. I stopped doing things when my daughter was born because I thought I would start back up later and I never found the time. There will always be something needing more time.

    Liked by 2 people

  3. I completely understand. I feel the same way, lately. I only look at book reviews online. I try to stay away from any bad news or politics… I read to escape reality. I don’t need it shoved in my face. So, just steer clear!
    If blogging feels like a chore, take a step back and relax. All of your readers who actually care about what you’re writing will still be here when you come back. And, I find that authors who are giving deadlines are actually very understanding if you can’t meet them. Most authors I’ve met are so happy to be getting reviews that it’s just good that you’re taking the time to do it. They’d rather you do it with a clear head then just shove something down and call it a day. So, take some time for yourself!

    Liked by 1 person

  5. I am not surprised it has sapped your joy from reading. I am sorry to hear that it has.

    I’ve definitely pulled away from Twitter quite a bit for days at a time over the last month or so, in large part to the drama but also because the world & news cycle has been severely affecting my mental well-being. It’s hard to see the same book twitter arguments every other day, the inequality in publishing, and not to mention the state of the world right now.

    A side effect though is when I am not tweeting and being active, I find it even harder for me to create content for my blog. I haven’t written a post for over a week, and my one review was written weeks ago but held for the blog tour.I don’t know what the answer is, but I support you in whatever choice you make

    Like

  6. I definitely go through phases of being really into blogging and sort of putting it on the back burner—sometimes it just too much mental energy to spare, and I think it’s good to take a break every once in a while.

    Liked by 1 person

  7. I’m currently feeling the same way! With life and work, where do we fit in the time to read without feeling guilty about something else? I also agree about book twitter! It has so much negativity on it recently that I find myself hardly opening the app.

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Maybe cutting out Twitter would help? I honestly don’t see any drama, but I don’t have Twitter 😉 I don’t think the blogs or Facebook are as dramatic, maybe? And I do love the community. I actually started reading more with a schedule instead of just mood-reading.

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  9. Oh doll, my heart goes out to you! You’re dealing with a pretty major physical/life upheaval right now, so it’s understandable that other things (i.e., Twitter drama and slumpiness) would grate on you. Maybe doing a bit of a cull of who you’re following (just unfollowing or muting accounts that bring stuff that brings you down into your feed) might help? I also turn off my notifications sometimes, so that I don’t get that little red dot nudging me to open the app and get sucked in – they’ll all still be there when I feel like it. Oh, and if the BS is *really* bad, I make sure to look at We Rate Dogs or Thoughts Of Dog for a minute before I leave the app – they ALWAYS put a smile on my face!

    Liked by 1 person

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