Confessions of a Literary Addict

Wow, look at me. I’m chatty as heck lately. But I’ve got a lot on my mind.

And, suffice to say, aside from my (hopefully-ending-soon) reading slump that my month has become, I’ve been feeling extremely overwhelmed by a variety of factors, and one of them happens to be my books. Which might be sparking the slump in turn, even though it didn’t start out this way.

HOW DID YOUR CURRENTLY-READING SHELF GET SO OVERWHELMED, ME? WELL, LET’S SEE:

⇒ Problem: Too many things to read, and you want to read all the things. So you do, and here you are now, with an unending currently-reading.

→ Solution: Slow it down and do not pick another book up. Do not. Stop it. Maybe pick up one of the books in audiobook, so you can tackle more than one book daily by listening while you drive.

⇒ Problem: The horrific reading slump. Read one book, find it doesn’t work. Pick another up, but that one doesn’t work. Third one? Fourth? Oh, look. Now you’re stocked up on books you read a chapter or two of but you’re too stubborn to take them off. Pity.

→ Solution: Suck it up and read one of them. Don’t add another. Your slump will end eventually and you can read a chapter of each in turn until you either finish one or you reach a good part in one of them and finish the book. If you’re still in a slump after, you can add a book once you’ve finished one of them.

⇒ Problem: ALL THE BOOKS ARE SO GOOD BUT YOU’RE TAKING IT SLOW BECAUSE YOU DON’T WANT IT TO END.

→ Solution: I don’t often have this problem, I’ll admit. Usually I can’t finish them fast enough because I’m loving it so much and I want to get all the feelings. But, when I do, I tell myself it has to end at some point. If I wait too long, I might not enjoy the end as much as I would have if I hadn’t just gone for it.

⇒ Problem: Life is overwhelming, and books are just making it worse.

→ Solution: Take a break. You’ll get back into it, but you can’t always control life. You can control your reading.

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Those are the four problems that I typically run into. Frankly, I just need to take my own advice this time and get through them. Right now, it’s the second issue I’m having, though Clockwork Princess is starting to pick up some. The fourth is threatening to take the spotlight, but it hasn’t progressed that far just yet.

Are there any other problems you might have for an overwhelming CR shelf? I might not have a solution, but I’m always interested in hearing.

Thanks for reading!