How to Avoid a Reading Slump

The Best Ways to Avoid a Reading Slump

We know you know the feeling. You’re absolutely loving the book you’re reading; the characters are great, the world is great. It might actually be one of the best books you’ve read all year. But as you get closer to the end, you feel a little seed of dread making its way into the pit of your stomach. What are you going to do once it’s over?

Like, it can’t just end on you. It’s too perfect! But of course it does, and no matter how long you stare at your TBR pile or how many books you struggle through the first twenty pages of, nothing is the same. The bookish world looks a little grayer. It’s called the reading slump, and there isn’t a single book nerd who hasn’t fallen into one.

Now, you can’t prevent a book from ending, but there are a few things you can do to prevent yourself from getting into a slump. We thought long and hard on all the ways we’ve escaped those dreadful slumps before, and we wanted to share those tips with you! Here are our totally legit, completely official, three R’s to avoid a reading slump!

1. Ready

The first R stands for “ready,” or, if you want to expand it a bit, “you better start readying yourself when you feel that slump coming on.” This tip involves being aware that the book you’re reading is going to put you in a slump. When you know it’s coming, it can be easier to prevent. There are two other pieces of advice to go along with this tip:

• Take breaks from the book! It may feel like less of a loss afterwards if you don’t read the entire book at once.
• Read another book at the same time! If you’re reading a second book in-between, or even use the time to ease yourself into the next book to prevent the slump from even happening, the end of the first book might not seem like the end of the world!

2. Recommendation

The second R stands for “recommendation,” as in, “take some    recommendations on what books you should read as a follow-up.” It’s the most obvious of the tips, but sometimes readers get so caught up in The Slump that they forget how helpful the book community can be. Here’s a list of places to go for good recommendations!

• The “readers also enjoyed” section on Goodreads
• EpicReads
• A friend’s favourite book that you’ve been hesitant to try
• BookTube and book blogger recommendation videos and posts
• The “big” books—you know there’s that one huge series you haven’t started yet
• Some other reading blog

3. Reading experience

And the final R stands for… *drumroll* “reading experience!” The tip here is to switch up your reading experience. Often times slumps occur because we’re looking for a book too similar to the one we just finished. What we’re saying is to shake things up instead! Try something new. Here are some ways on how to go about that:

• Read something short! Whether it’s a novella or a short book with big print, just finishing something is the first step to dodging a real slump
• Try a genre you’ve never read before
• Reread one of your fave books—and bonus points if it’s a different genre than the book you just finished
• Try listening to an audiobook or reading an ebook! Switch up the experience physically
• Similarly, try reading in a different place, like outside or at a library.

SOURCE: EpicReads