Happy Friday! It’s a glorious sunny week here, so you bet I’m spending it outside. Ironically, this week I haven’t read much at all but I have been enjoying myself!

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly bookish discussion meme created by Rukky @Eternity Books and co-hosted by Aria @Book Nook Bits and Dini @DiniPandaReads. Each Friday, bloggers will write posts about a particular topic and share on their blog.

Our next topic for May is on reading and motivation..

How do you motivate yourself to sit down and concentrate on reading?

Short answer: I don’t!

I have always been a reader, so the desire to pick up a book has just always been there. Sorry, I know that’s probably really annoying to hear, but it’s true. I don’t have a television (there is one in the house but it’s not mine and in a different space to my own living area), and even if I did I am not really the kind of person who enjoys watching it anyway, so that’s one major thing that I don’t have distracting me that I am sure is there for lots of people. I just… love the act of reading and so I do it.

Do you have a set reading time/schedule that works best for you to focus?

Not really. I find it very easy to slip into a state of focus when I pick up a book, and I am also not the sort of person to schedule my hobbies anyway. I do have a routine of reading with my breakfast, but that’s about the only ‘fixed’ time I have to read. I also try to read before I go to sleep, but I often only manage two pages before my eyes close! If I am not doing anything in particular after dinner, I will often sit and just read for a couple of hours before I go up to bed. All other reading is on a whim!

Do you have tips/tricks that you would recommend others try?

Not really, purely because, as I have said, I don’t struggle with this.
I think the biggest thing I can suggest is to make it accessible. Try and remember to keep your book where you are. Going out? Take it with you! Waiting in the car to pick someone up? Bring your book. That sort of thing.

I guess my other tip is to not make it feel like a chore. If you’re not enjoying what you are reading, dnf it. Life is way too short to read sub-par books! Nobody is going to come for you for abandoning something you don’t like. If you sit down to read and just really don’t want to, do something else. There is no point in forcing yourself to read because you’ll probably just end up hating everything, even if it is a book you should like.

You Tell Me – Do you have a reading routine?