I am often asked (usually by fellow busy mothers) how I get so much reading done with four kids, two cats, a dog, a house and a husband. In 2020, I read 105 books. It's looking like this year will be around 60. (Orchestrating distance learning with the boys last school year was a massive time and energy suck, and when I was done, I just wanted to veg, not use my brain more. Ha! So my numbers are down for 2021.)
"When do you find time to read?" they ask.
But the answer is that it's not about when I read (if I had to answer that I would say all.the.time) but more about where I read that matters.
I read in my bed, at the kitchen table, on my couch, on the front porch, in the car pick up line, at the doctors office, while I'm in the drive through pharmacy line, while waiting to pick up my kids from practice or a friends house, and at doctor appointments. I rarely leave home without a book, but on the occasion when I do forget it, I always have an audio book going.
I listen to my audio books in probably even more places than I read my physical ones. I listen as I do dishes in the kitchen, fold laundry upstairs, make beds & tidy rooms, run errands around town, grocery shop, and walk the dog in our neighborhood... the list goes on.
I also take turns with Josh reading chapter books to the boys at bedtime. He's working through the Harry Potter series with them, but I just pick and choose different books that strike my fancy and seem like the boys would like them. Some are duds (like The Winter Room by Gary Paulsen, which we just finished. Boring!) but some are surprisingly delightful (like Pax by Sara Klassen. Now I want a fox. Hah!) and it's a great way to get more books added to my monthly numbers while also instilling a love of reading in my kids.
One more tip I would give, that is slightly personal, is to put a book in each of your bathrooms. Choose books that you are working through, trying to finish. I prefer poetry, but short stories or a heavy non-fiction could also work, as you tend to want to read those in little bits so as to absorb everything. I just started that trick last month, and my reading went from 2 books in September to 9 in October.
So if you're trying to increase how much you're reading, don't focus on when to read. Think about where you could read. Is there ten minutes in your day where you're waiting for something and could read a quick 15 pages? Could you listen to an audio book while you workout or make dinner? Maybe you could set bedtime a little earlier to squeeze in a few more chapters. And when you're hitting the road to go anywhere, make sure you have an audiobook downloaded so you can get the pages read to you. That's one of my favorites.
Where do you read?
I am always looking for ways to get more reading out of my days,
so I'd love to hear your ideas.
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