Reading is like going on a date...
Well, basically it's a date of you and the author.
Hey!
Recently I have just stumbled on a blog of the writer I love to read from In which he will give out his advice to the letter he receives. This, is about dating.
Also, with a blog about making an appointment with yourself – basically you need to have a fixed Me-time every day to reflect and do things that regain your energy, and for me, is reading,...
I came up with an idea...
Why not treating reading time as a date?
Strange and weird enough, but let me explain...
In 33 thoughts on reading by Austin Kleon, he represents a tons of advices he adheres himself to while reading, and some, I find extremely fascinating and link to my idea of the relation of reading and dating.
First, my personal definition of a date: After getting to know a person, either online, or from a group of friend, in a bar... you want to get to know more about this person, by setting up a 'date' with them, in which only you, and them, and not anyone else. There, either in a restaurant, a park, a picnic... You chit-chat, get to know each other more, laugh with them, imagining the life you may have with them in the future. Or, in some very common and real cases, laugh awkwardly at their joke while sending an SOS signal to your friend to help you escape, away from this date, and say goodbye to this person maybe forever.
And how is it linked to reading? Well, personally, reading is a date of you and the author, only that… it’s a one-way conversation :’), maybe a one-way love… too…
Just like going on a date, you need to set out a time for reading
For me, it's the late evening time, after eating dinner, I prepare myself a cup of tea, go to my room and start reading. Imagine like it's a date, you also have a fix appointment with that person, so why not for reading?
Read whatever the hell I feel like
Swipe right or left, choose to meet this person or not, it may base on how is your first impression with them. For reading, when you encounter a book you like, just read it! The title seems irresistible, pick it up! The cover is so great, why not give it a try?
Make liberal use of the phrase: It wasn't for me.
A clause opens to many ways. It allows me to tell the reader how I felt about the book without cancelling the possibility that you may like it, or making you feel stupid if you like it.
Everyone has their own taste, everyone is different. This isn't for me, doesn't mean, that you should not like it.
This also liberates you from the sense of guilty when you don’t finish a book. You don’t have to plough yourself through a boring book because you ‘accidentally stumble on it’, the same as a date, and it leads me to another point…
Have a good date, but don't let an author waste your time.
First, clear your expectation about whatever you have about this book. You may think 'oh my god this book is beautiful, this author is so well-known, this maybe the best book that I have ever read'. But when the things go south, and you realise you cannot comprehend what the author is saying, or you find a series of gaps that make the story so dull and illogical. Call it a day and cancel it. 'It wasn't for me', after all. Move on to another book on the list. By this, you don't feel guilty for not finishing the book, and force yourself to go over it. For me, it's quite in relation to a date, when you find that your sense of life doesn't align with that of the person, simply bid farewell and move on to another. After all, it's just a date, you are not committing anything.
When you find an author you truly adore, go and read everything they have written and everything they have read.
If you find a date perfect, you may want to get to know more about this person, you want to dive more in, understand this person more. The same is for the book. You find a book good, go read more from the author. Also, read what they are inspired from.
Personally, I extremely adore Austin Kleon, through his valuable book 'Steal like an Artist', I went to read 2 other books of his trilogy, 'Keep going' and 'Show your work'. Then, I learnt about his blog 'Austin Kleon' read it. Then I found out his collection of books he has read, and is now munching each of them. I'm currently with 'Theft by Finding Diaries' by David Sedaris.
Turn off the phone
You don't want to be a jerk who keeps checking phone, right? Distraction is the utmost challenge for concentration, and elimination of it is our top priority, especially in modern life, in which Internet is threatening to shorten our focus span. Through your phone in somewhere else, maybe another room, or just shut down your phone, and immerse in the book, or, the person in front of you.
If you don't feel like reading do something else, even... gasp... playing games!
Being on a date requires you to have energy. If you don't feel like it, don't go. Reading is also like that, when you feel like you cannot focus on the reading, simply toss it away, and do other things that you like. Just to remember that don't skip it twice in a row, or, it will become a new procrastination habit.
Don't force yourself through it, reading is supposed to be fun, not a straining work that goes against your will.
That’s it. See you next time with my weird idea.