I have been in a reading slump for months and I’m trying to get out.
When I was reading, I was reading 100-200 pages each day. I was flying through books and I loved it. I was reading about 2-4 pages a minute and just could not stop reading.
I’m attempting to get back into that “lifestyle” so to speak. Especially as a new author, now.
Stephen King’s fantastic advice: To be a writer there are two things you must do. You must read a lot and write a lot. (my paraphrased version of his words).
Maybe the first book will be On Writing by Stephen King.
I love books.
by TheSt0rmBringer
41 Comments
I’ve read all my life and have never even thought about how many pages or books I read in a day, week, month, or year. It doesn’t matter, I’m always reading.
Daily page count goals, pages per minute … yeah, I can see how this might result in “reading slump”.
I try to read at least 50 pages a day or more if I can, which more often than not I’m able to surpass if I’m working from the office on that day. The one and only good thing about a 1+ hour transit time is being able to ignore everything and everyone around you and read.
I’ve never had a goal or a limit. While I’m pretty steady in how much I read, there have been times I’m just not feeling it and then I take a break. Sometimes your brain needs that.
I read every morning, usually for 30 minutes to an hour, so the amount of pages I read in a day varies. Consistently reading at a specific time every day, no matter how much/how long, you read for is better for making reading a daily habit again.
2- 4 pages a minute, that is fast, I think I am closer to 1-2 pages a minute, faster as I get into the book. The only reason I know I have read over 100 books so far this year is because me e-book reader keeps track. Other than that, I don’t keep track just enjoy the books
its random but a lot of the times its between 60 or over 100 pages
I don’t set reading goals, I’ve found that they don’t work well for me.
Typically, I read at least 52 books a year. I don’t aim to, it just happens that I finish a book or two every couple of weeks pretty consistently. One year I thought “you know, I could probably get to 104 books if I just made sure to read consistently before bed, I’ll make that my target this year.”
And you know what? I found myself focussing on short books. Only picking up things I was certain I could finish in a couple of days, because otherwise the goal would be in danger. All the longer novels I was looking forward to reading, I just kept putting off.
So I decided to drop the goal and just go back to reading what I wanted.
I read when I go to sleep instead of scrolling mindlessly on my phone (but sometimes it can be hard to put the phone down) and I wake up earlier in the morning to get some calm and alone time to chill and read a bit before getting ready for work. I don’t know how many pages I read exactly each time but it takes me about 2-5 days to read a book, sometimes I read several books at a time when one of them is a boring and I need to open another one. I also listen to audiobooks when I’m running or walking outside. I keep track of everything on a website equivalent to Goodreads in France (Booknode) and I so far this year I’ve read 90 books. My goal is just to finish my TBR list, still 90 books to go
I feel like measuring daily pages isn’t a reliable goal – some books have bigger line spacing, text, or different fonts, so the amount of content on a single page differs from book to book.
If you need motivation to read, I’d recommend doing a reading goal of minutes – 10, 15, 30 – whatever works for you and your schedule
Do you read standardised books? Otherwise, it doesn’t seem useful to count pages…
I would love to read 2-3 hours a day like I used to do.
But, oh well, kids, work, stay in shape, marriage, social stuff, you know the drill. So it’s maybe half an hour in the evening, depending on how fast the kids are asleep.
I usually read before bed for 1-2 hours. If I have a day off I might read off and on throughout the day. I don’t have a goal of how much to read per day. If I did, I’d be paying more attention to where I was with my goal than actually comprehending what I was reading.
My advice is just don’t force it. If you don’t read for a couple days, so be it. To get out of a reading slump, I typically read 2-3 books that are short and fun. I’m more likely to get engrossed in what I’m reading and get my attention span back.
100-200 pages a day is uh, a lot. Depending on the kinds of books you are reading, this would take several hours. Really dense writing will really challenge you to hit those numbers without either sacrificing comprehension or loads of time. I do audio books and my general goal is 30 mins – 2 hours a day but I don’t mind if I fall short as I will occasionally have days where I listen for 4-5 hours. I listen in the car, during my morning routine at work, occasionally in the middle of the day if a task doesn’t require too much effort, etc. To try to put an audio book in perspective of sitting down and reading, I’m currently “reading” a 864 page book. I’m on my fourth week of listening to the audio book and I will finish it this week. So lets say it ends up taking all 28 days. 864/28 = 30.8 pages a day on average.
I just read when I can. 20 minutes at lunch. 1/2 hour before bed. It adds up. I don’t worry about daily word counts or books read per year. I keep a record of what I read over the year, but it’s not something I focus on.
Right before I go to sleep typically. Everything’s off and I just fall asleep easier doing this
I try to read every day before work and on my lunch break. This amounts to about an hour of reading a day. I don’t really worry about pages or anything, but over the years this habit has allowed me to read about 40-50 books per year. Some years have had way less when I had months long slumps where I didn’t feel like reading. I never really got discouraged by that though, because the interest is cyclical and always returns.
My usual reading time is right after I get my husband off to work in the morning. Usually I spend an hour reading but sometimes I read more when I’ve got down time. My personal goal is 50 pages a day but I hate stopping mid chapter so I usually finish it out. My favorite genre is historical fiction which can be heavy. I turn to legal or psychological thrillers if I’m in a slump because of the faster pace and generally shorter chapters. I also allow myself to DNF a book if I find myself not being drawn to the story- this was not easy for me and only recently became guilt free. Good luck!
As a preteen I started reading novels. I loved reading and found it very enjoyable. That’s the only reason I read. I don’t care if I read one paragraph a year and it was good that’s all that matters. Find something you enjoy and it’s not tedious.
50 pages a day. Totally doable and I often read more. The important part is keeping to it every day. And yes, 50 pages no matter how small the font is. Personally, I make sure to always be reading multiple books, so I always have a book I’m actively excited to read regardless of mood.
>When do you usually read?
In every available free moment in which I’m not writing. Audiobooks let me read while I do other stuff, too.
>What’s your daily page count goal?
Never had one, never kept track. I can read around 100 pages of narrative per hour, roughly. It’s obviously slower in audio.
I only ever have two goals for my reading:
1. One page per day
2. To not force myself to read things I don’t enjoy or aren’t getting value out of
How many pages do I end up reading per day? Typically between 10-50. But promising myself I’ll do at least one page makes it easy to keep the habit up, and typically evolves into reading more than one.
But if for whatever reason I’m not in the mood, I’m tight on time, or I’m just exhausted, convincing yourself to read one page is very easy.
I try to read before bed every night but I know myself well enough to know that making a ‘goal number of pages’ would make it a chore and I’d never read again. So I just try to read for a bit to wind down.
I read sporadically throughout the day, no set page goal or anything. Just read when I can and when I feel like it.
I usually read in the evening, when I’m done with all my responsibilities for the day. I don’t have a goal; I read for my own enjoyment, so I read as much as I want or have time for. Some days I don’t have time to read at all, some days I read for hours. Most of the time it’s about an hour a day.
I think it helps to treat any free time as reading time. It’s amazing how much reading you can get done while you’re waiting in line at the grocery store or wherever. After a while it just becomes habit.
Good for you for getting back into reading. 👍
Currently, I read every morning as soon as I get up. It’s what gets me out of bed. Some days, it’s only for 30 minutes or so with my coffee. Other days, I get up a few hours earlier than necessary so I can read for 2-3 hours before starting my day. I have a physical book that I read in the morning. An audiobook going while I’m driving and often while doing household chores and yardwork, and then another book going on my kindle that I read in bed at night (gotta love a kindle for being able to read in the dark). I also take that one with me when I know I’ll be waiting in public.
That being said, it would never occur to me to put a goal on my page count. Placing requirements on hobbies is a quick way to sap enjoyment from leisure time activities for me. Generally, I read whenever I can, for as long as I am able to.
I have no daily reading goals. I do read or listen most days, but what time of day it happens depends a lot on what I have going on. I also find that over the year my reading waxes and wains. I have weeks or months when I read a lot and others where I just don’t feel like it, so I don’t. I also read in all formats so there are times when I primarily read printed books and times when I primarily listen to audiobooks.
I find that setting strict goals or goals that don’t allow me to have a lull makes reading feel like a chore. I started the year strong with 20 books in January and was averaging 15 books a month until August then my reading slowed way down and I’m fine with that.
I don’t have a page count. I just read when I can! Usually when rocking my 2 month old to sleep or when she’s napping on me!
I didn’t know people set goals like that
I don’t really track like this. There’s just too many variables. Page layout, complexity, etc. all effect how fast I read. I can read 100+ pages of a standard YA book a day. But if I’m reading a good academic history book, 30ish pages a day is reasonable. If I’m reading something with good footnotes/endnotes it’s going to be less. It also matters how much time I spent reading at work and how technical it is. If you read something like All The Light We Cannot See, reading 100 pages a day is a lot different than reading 100 pages of Richard Evan’s Pursuit of Power.
I don’t think having a daily page count goal is a healthy way to look at reading. When you’re obsessing over a goal like that, you probably aren’t appreciating the material, plus stressing yourself out as well.
I read when I feel like it. Some books I can breeze through, some require slower reading to absorb. Reading should be enjoyable, not a chore.
I usually reas at night when laying down for bed. Usually. If I have nothing to do on a day with no work…I’ll read whenever.
I don’t impose a page count goal on myself. I read for pleasure and read however much or little I feel that day. It’s a hobby not a chore.
It isn’t a competition. Nor is it a litmus test of any kind. Setting arbitrary goals won’t have the effect you think it may.
I read every day if I can (pending something like a headache, for example) and it’s usually 1-2 hours in the evening before bed. I also read during my lunch break at work. I manage 50-100 pages a day using this strategy. I usually get through 50-70 books a year doing this.
I read when I feel like it, and never with a strict limit (except that one time I was trying to read a 1k page library book in two weeks).
I have a very petty nature, and if someone’s trying to force me into doing something, I become very contrary – even when that someone is me!
So, my strategy is no pressure, but reading is always available, always an option. So I find myself fitting it in throughout my day quite naturally.
I read for pleasure so I have no reading goals.
I find that when I force myself to read, I end up reading less. It’s almost like you’re making your reading into a chore, a task you have to complete, rather than just… reading.
That sounds like a stressful way to approach reading, kind of turns an enjoyable hobby into a job. But if you don’t have the habit, and unless you’re reading for a specific goal (self help or what have you), find a book that sounds interesting and fun to you and start from there. Just try to do a bit each day, frequency is going to matter more than duration.
In the past, at times when my interest in reading had waned heavily, I’d frequently chosen books that I felt I “should” read, or books that I believed at the time were expected of me to read in order to feel smart, or included in some imagined in-group, or put some external time expectation on reading, and that almost smothered my return to a hobby I loved when I was younger.
Now, I usually read before bed until I’m no longer invested, come to a lull in the story, fall asleep, or realise if I don’t sleep soon I’m going to be a miserable tit at work.
And because I spend most of my reading time engaging in books that I’m actually personally interested and entertained by, those times when I decide to break out something more esoteric, or heady, I actually enjoy the slower mental digestion of those books instead of feeling bogged down by the slog.
I do text-to-speech during my work week commutes. So maybe 8 hours per week.
Haven’t made time to open a physical book in ages, sad to say.
I usually listen to audiobooks while doing other things (cooking, working on sewing projects, running errands) and sit down and read a physical book for a little bit each night before bed. I don’t set page count goals because it’s not something that matters to me.
Comparison is the thief of joy.
honestly don’t get people who set page reading goals, like, is reading a chore on a to-do list for you?? No wonder!