Tag Archives: reading

Posted on

Finding Time to Read

One of the biggest irritations I have as an author is hearing someone say: “I don’t read, I don’t have time.”

Finding time to read can be a challenge in our busy lives, but it’s crucial for personal growth and relaxation. My advice: Start by identifying idle moments—waiting for appointments, commuting, or even 10 minutes before bed. Turn these snippets of time into your reading sanctuary. Small steps lead to big gains; even a few pages a day can add up to entire books over time. Make reading a habit, not a luxury.

Posted on

My 15th Reading of Fahrenheit 451

The first dystopian novel I remember ever reading was at the age of 13 when on a snow day, I pulled a copy of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 off my father’s shelf. I’ll be honest, I didn’t quite understand it, but the story hooked me—the idea of a world where people burned books instead of reading them? I had never heard of such a thing.


For several years, I’ve made it a yearly tradition this weekend to take a day off to put the phone and world aside and reread it. 

Today I finished my 15th reread, and It’s still just as good as it was the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th time. 

Ray Bradbury was a master of imagination and creativity. He was known for crafting unique worlds and weaving complex ideas such as censorship and human nature into engaging stories with his inventive prowess.

Every speculative author should read some Ray Bradbury because his innovative approach to storytelling blends the fantastical and the mundane, offering a unique lens on society that challenges conventional thinking and inspires creativity in character development, theme exploration, and world-building.

If you haven’t read any Bradbury- Go correct that problem now! 

Posted on

First Time Reading Tolkien

My introduction to Fantasy was the Belgariad by David Eddings and The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. It may surprise some that I’ve never been into Tolkien much. I’ve enjoyed the films, but I’ve never made much progress reading his work. I skipped right over Tolkien, and anytime I would try to go back and dive into his stories, I struggled to get into his voice. I would get about fifty pages in and stop. It was probably a bad idea to make my first time reading Tolkien be The Silmarillion. But I set a goal to try and get into his work this year. So here I am.

book on wooden surface near a candlelight- First time reading tolkien
Photo by Vincent M.A. Janssen on Pexels.com

My approach to reading Tolkien was to come at it from a student’s perspective, as if I’m studying the history of Fantasy.

One thing I didn’t realize, getting into this was that “The Silmarillion” is only a portion of the book. There are two Prologues, Ainulindalë, then the Valaquenta, and then you finally make it to the Quenta Silmarillion, which winds up being the bulk of the book. This story is “an account of the Elder Days or the First Age of the World.” I’ve learned that The Lord of the Rings takes place at the end of the Third Age, (I honestly didn’t know this) so basically this is the genesis story of how that land came to be. (I can hear a million Tolkien fans quietly laughing at my lack of knowledge.)

So far, I’m enjoying it. Although several podcasts and commentaries have helped. It makes me appreciate Tolkien a bit more, and gives me the desire to dive into more of his works. I’m only on Chapter Nine, but the story is unfolding fantastically.

In a few weeks, I’ll be recording a podcast with a friend of the Show, David Wright, for Geeky Dad’s Talk About Geeky Things. We will not be able to cover everything there is to discuss during that one episode. So, I’ll blog a few of my thoughts occasionally. Like I said, this is my first time reading Tolkien, and I’m enjoying it so far.

Posted on

I’m a Slow Reader

Here is a little confession: I’m a Slow Reader. 

I always have been. I used to envy people who read quickly, devouring books in a single day or thick epic fantasy stories over a weekend. But it’s okay that I’m slow, and there are many reasons why. 

eyeglasses on opened book beside cup of coffee on table
Photo by Oziel Gómez on Pexels.com

1) Time. With ADHD, I struggle to sit and stay focused for long periods. I get distracted easily, and the slightest thing can pull my mind away. 

2) I’m just slow. My average reading pace with proper comprehension is about 171 words per minute. Most people come in at around 250 words. That means if I read for a full hour, I can get through about 10,260 words. So a typical 100,000-word novel will take me about ten dedicated hours of reading time. 

3) Priority. I have a lot going on in life and wear many different hats. So sitting down to read is much more complicated than it was fifteen years ago. 

However, I’ve learned a few tricks to help me read more. 

1) I’ve learned to read in ten-minute chunks, which has helped. If I can carve about ten minutes here and ten minutes there, I’ve seen a vast improvement in the number of books I can consume. 

2) Audiobooks. I had to learn to listen to books. It didn’t come naturally. A great narrator can hold me for hours if need be. But I stress the “Great Narrator” part. I can consume more through audio than I used to. So I tend to devour them more now. I want publishing to get it together and learn to bundle ebooks and audio at a discounted price. They would make a fortune.  

3) Stop worrying about how much everyone else is reading. Reading isn’t a sport, it’s entertainment, it’s for enjoyment, it’s for disconnecting from an already chaotic world. I don’t need to keep up with everyone else. So, I don’t care if so and so has read ten more books than me this year. Good for them. 

I’m a slow reader. Maybe you are too. Guess what? That’s okay. Just dive in and learn to enjoy.