How to Get Out of a Reading Slump

If you ask my husband and my bank account, they’ll both tell you that I have a ton of books. Most of them, I’m ashamed to say, I haven’t read yet. There are just many moments where I don’t have the motivation, passion, or energy to read. My heart and my brain desperately want me to read, but my body says nope.

So how do I get out of this slump?

I take a break. I consciously decide that I’m not going to pressure myself into doing something I’m not feeling up to. I try to do other things, like catch up on shows or movies, do more family outings, or housework (but that’s something I TOTALLY have to talk myself into!).
I read a one-off. I have a lot of series. Usually, they’re at least five or six books long. Sometimes I get burned out. It’s a lot of commitment to stay with characters and settings for that many books. I have a ton of one-offs for that reason. Most of the time, reading a stand alone will get the reading juices flowing again and I’m able to tackle a series.
I read an “easy” book. As an English major (always and forever, right?), my shelves are full of heavy Literature. My Brit Lit teacher would always refer to world-changing books as capital L literature and entertainment books as little l literature. Sometimes my brain just can’t handle Literature. I don’t want to read thought-provoking books; sometimes I want to be blindly entertained. If that’s the case, I usually pick up a YA book. Those are usually more fun to read, and I have the habit of speed-reading those. Once I’ve read some of those, I’m more willing to read the heavy ones.
I go to the bookstore. Sometimes, all it takes is me driving to the bookstore and seeing all the pretty books lined up. In a totally-not-psychotic way, they speak to me, telling me to buy them, which I do…and then my husband and bank account complain again.

Hopefully this will help some of y’all who might be in a reading slump. I don’t think I’m in the slump now, but we’ll see what happens when I finish reading this book!