As you all know as well as writing I am a book lover, I love reading but recently I am finding it harder and harder to not only fit in reading but to focus on other peoples words.
This was my TBR pile last christmas rather than reducing it continues to grow and the number of actual books I have read this year is less than it has ever been before.
My problem is I always used books as a way to relax, they were new worlds in which to disappear and be absorbed by but now when I sit down and pick up a book my mind races away to the worlds which I am creating, constantly new stories, plot twists for ones I am writing spring to my mind and the book in my hand remains unread. I would love to be able to switch off and just enjoy a book once more, but instead if I manage to focus on the words on the page before me my mind questions each choice the author has made, would I have had that character do or say that?
Don’t get me wrong there are still certain authors whose judgement I never question I just stand in awe of them, two of them I have added to the new fangirl tab above, but they are few and far between though thankfully I have new books to look forward to from both of the two named authors.
So the question for my writer friends, how do you switch your brain off in order to just enjoy you reading? Do you still read for pleasure rather than research? Do you find some authors easier to immerse yourselves in than others?
Please leave so answers in the comments would love to know if I am alone in this.
Paula Acton 
I still enjoy a read every night before sleep though it takes a long time to finish a book at one or two chapters a time.. I’ve not taken to second guessing the authors and wondering how I’d ave done it but I don’t suffer plots running round my head distracting me. Relaxing id difficult when that happens.
xxx Huge Hugs xxx
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Maybe some day I’ll do that. I have a lot of growing up yet in writer’s world. 🙂
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I have always had trouble with my mind wandering with other peoples books or doing the what if this happened instead of that lol while it can be good it can also be a curse, it also makes it hard finishing off writing stories as I often think of changes when I should leave it and walk away lol
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I love to read. Anything and everything – especially novels. While I read them for fun, I also think of them as a learning opportunity. It’s interesting to see how different authors construct stories and characters. 🙂
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Wow those books.. 🙂 i’d love to see a stash video Paula, like they do with make up. But then with books, i’d love to see where you keep them if they’re sorted or the opposite, maybe they’re everywhere and totally whimsical!
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I do exactly the same, Paula. I always have. I have to just think… this isn’t my work, this is “author’s” story to tell, and I’m going to try as hard as I can to enjoy it.
Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t.
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I can’t turn it off. Probably why I don’t read a lot 🙂
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I haven’t written in months…but I find myself correcting small grammatical errors. But that’s a small thing for me. I’m an editing worm. I really love reading and don’t pay much attention besides finding themes and metaphors and what not. I can’t quite turn off the English literature bug in me 😛
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The same thing happens to me, Paula. The hope is that it will make my writing better.
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As a Writer, I love it when I would rather write my own books than read others. I love analysing other peoples work with a critical eye because that improves my own writing. In think the fact that you pick up a book to read it but are questioning what the author has written is a great thing. I believe it means your own writing abilities and skills are more advanced than they used to be and you are improving day by day. Congratulations.
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