The Trouble With Being A Book Blogger... Problem #1: Kind Of A Reading Slump But Not

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I love to read.

That's what made me want to become a book blogger after all. Love of reading. I enjoy diving into these made up places and meeting these amazing characters and falling into this glorious world that feels so real.

I've noticed that something has changed for me though. This year, I haven't been reading like I used to. Sure, I have had a lot going on this year... but at the moment, other than revising my novel, I really don't. So what has happened? It's not that my love for reading is gone, it's certainly still there.

I may have figured part of it out. I think I put too much in front of myself. I'm not talking about my yearly reading goal, that's still reasonable, and reachable. I'm talking about personal expectations. Like my goal to read 2-4 classics and catch up on my giveaway wins and read-to-review books. These are all great things that I had every intention to do... but for some reason, I just can't. Not entirely. I am trying, don't get me wrong. I've managed to do pretty good considering how much I have on the table there. I'm just not always in the mood for these books, at least, not in this exact moment.

Same goes for everything else. Like on my weekly update posts, I had that little section showcasing the books "Up Next". I decide on a couple books I want to read next... and then it sort of makes me feel obligated to read them next. So I force myself to read them, even though I might not be in the right frame of mind or in the mood for it. I do end up enjoying most of them in the end though. It just seems to take me forever to read some of them.

I'm not in a rut. I've got some great books to read. Really great books. What I'm thinking though is that maybe I need to stop forcing myself to read something out of a sense of duty. I need to just go to my shelf or pick up my Nook and see what sounds good to me in that moment. No more picking out a book just because I "need" to read it. I want to pick one up and get sucked in immediately and finish it in a day or two. I want that joy from reading again.

And I CAN have it again.

I just need to stop the high expectations, stop the obligations, start really loving to read again. So this is my determination: Rediscover my pure love of books again.

Have you ever reached this point?
Felt overwhelmed by personal expectations that you lose the love you originally had?
What have you done to make it better?

Question Of The Moment: Do you want to quit reading challenges? (1)

I started to write an article earlier this year about how some reading challenges aren’t challenging. When I originally went about picking the reading challenges I wanted to do, I picked out types and levels of books I was planning on reading already.  So, it wasn’t a “challenge”, it was just signing up to reach a goal I knew I was going to reach anyways.

At this point in the year, I am on time for my reading challenges. I’ve got several under my belt. Which is all well and good, but I’m kind of annoyed at the moment. Why? I look at my plan for the year, and the little wiggle room I’ve allowed myself when it comes to my total for the year. Sure, I can read these books I’ve challenged myself to read.

I know I can do it, I just don’t want to do it.

Of course, I’m still going to keep plugging away at my Classics challenge because it really is challenging and I like that, and, well, it’s MY challenge after all. The E-Book challenge isn’t that hard either. The books I’ve chosen to read for it are ones I’ve been aching to read. And reading The Complete E.E. Cummings is enjoyable in between the books.

But when it comes to the TBR pile challenge, I want to throw something at the wall. Yeah, I want to knock out some books that have been sitting on my shelves for awhile. The ones I’ve read so far have made me feel like I’ve gotten somewhere. My issue lies with the fact that I challenged myself to read 21 books on my shelf. That’s almost half of the reading I’ve allotted for myself this year. Take out the other challenges (10 for E-Book, 8 for Classics), and that leaves me with 12 books that I can read otherwise. I’ve already used up 3 of those freebies in the beginning of the year, leaving me with 9 books that don’t count toward challenges.

Why is this a problem?

I’ll give you some examples: Pandemonium (Lauren Oliver), Insurgent (Veronica Roth), The Evolution Of Mara Dyer (Michelle Hodkins), Heat Wave (Richard Castle), Catching Fire and Mockingjay (Suzanne Collins), The Babysitter Murders (Janet Ruth Young), Catching Jordan (Miranda Kenneally), Don’t Breathe A Word (Holly Cupula)…

These are books that came out/are coming out this year (first three), I purchased this year (the next five), or I received an ARC of this year (last one). Add them up, and what do you get?

Nine.

As you can see, that accounts for EVERYTHING this year. It doesn’t include any other books I purchase this year. It doesn’t include any books I decide to borrow from the library. It doesn’t include any ARC’s or review request books I get asked to read.

Can you see why I’m annoyed?

For a few weeks, I told myself, “Just keep going on the TBR challenge. You can make it. You don’t want to fail, do you?” I’m the type of person who doesn’t like failing when I don’t have to, so I reluctantly kept reading what I had to. But that just made me feel worse and less inclined to read. Until the day I thought to myself, “Does it really matter if you don’t complete a challenge? Or if you just drop out of the challenge entirely?” I mean, it’s just a linky you wrote your name on. Who cares if you quit? Nobody. Are you going to be listed as a challenge dropout or failure somewhere on the internet? No.

So, I’ve decided I’m going to just let it all go and see where the year takes me. Reading is supposed to be enjoyable. There are certain books that you just aren’t in the mood for. You shouldn’t read them because you feel obligated to. This isn’t school. It’s your free time.

How about you?

Have you ever wanted to just give up on a challenge? Have you ever felt overwhelmed with a challenge? Did you quit the challenge? I want to hear your thoughts in the comments below!