I recently joined a readers group on Facebook. It’s an author free zone, meaning no promo, be it shameless or not, is allowed. I’ll say it’s refreshing to network with a group of people just because we enjoy reading. One of the posts was a challenge for each of us to have a daily DEAR time…drop everything and read. Just 15 minutes a day.
My winter break from class is nearly over and I’ve spent it prepping for the release of my book. I managed to get a little reading in, and let me tell you, once I get into a really good book, I go all in. And because I do go all in, reading for fun is a challenge when I’m in school.
However, I think we all know that in order to write better, we need to read. So, I’m accepting the 15 minute DEAR challenge posed in the FB group. I know there is some time-suck activity that I can do less of in order to squeeze in 15 minutes of something that I enjoy doing and will help me to grow.
2014 for me, is about being more structured. In order to juggle this wife/mom/full-time-job/student/writer thing, I have to be.
So, what are you doing to read more? Is finding time to read a challenge for you? Furthermore, what are you doing in order to have or maintain balance and structure in finding time to read in your busy life?
Dahlia Savage 
Kudos to you for trying to be more structured this year. Reading is a real challenge for me because I daydream so much while reading. No matter how much I try my mind just wanders, lol. After I finished school I was so burned out I only read one book a year for fun. Last year I read four. I probably won’t get back to the book a day habit I had before I started writing, but hopefully I’ll get to a place where I’m reading more without wandering so much.
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I understand! School burns me out as well and I know part of it is my lack of structure…so I’m trying to apply the same principle to my studies too. Trying to get it all in harmony!
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Finding time to read isn’t a challenge for me, but I sacrifice sleep at night laying in the bed with my tablet. Once I get REALLY into a book, I won’t stop until it’s done, which means being up until 3-4am sometimes. I know I can’t do that while I’m in school, so I’m going to try to limit myself to an hour a day, maybe two, as long as I get it in before 11pm, if I can do it at all with my class load.
I find that scheduling my time works really, really well for me, but I have a hard time sticking to the schedule. The first time something comes along and throws me off, the schedule is out the window, which I know isn’t good. I’m going to try to stick with one this semester though.
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I’m finding myself in a place that in order to meet my goals, I’ll have to schedule my time. I know it’ll be a challenge b/c its hard for me to stop reading a really good story, but I know I need to practice more discipline so I don’t get overwhelmed.
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15 mins a day is certainly doable! I love the challenge.
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Right, it is soo doable! Thanks for dropping by 🙂
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did my comment go through? I think WP ate it..
I said something like only you can answer the question. Sometimes a break does wonders for a difficult manuscript, but it depends on how tightly it has you gripped.
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lol, so NOW I see it in moderation… oh well.
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