“Reading? Who’s got time for that?”
It’s sad but true for most people who are overstressed at work. A lot of people understand that reading is an important activity. However, only a few have the reading time or even skim the pages of Lord of the Rings or Charlotte’s Web. No matter how they badly want to try reading, they unfortunately don’t have any idea how to squeeze the time for it.
I don’t mean to brag, but I am also living a hectic life just like everybody else and still get the time to read. I work early from seven o’clock in the morning until about five o’clock in the afternoon. It takes me almost an hour to reach home because traffic is a time killer. After taking a hearty meal I usually think of nice topics or stories to write for my blog, watch a little TV, and then grab a book I’m engrossed on.
Like me, it’s also possible for you to make time for reading, whether it’s a hobby you are passionate about or an activity you want to try for the first time.
Here are a few tips that I’ve been using:
LEARN TO SACRIFICE SOMETHING
![](<blockquote class="graf--blockquote"><p>Are great writers born or made?</p></blockquote>
<p class="graf--p">Is writing a learned skill or innate? Know the myths and facts of brilliant writing.</p>
<p class="graf--p">I believed I was a writer when I was a child. As soon as I learned to read in first grade, I filled up notebooks with my literary musings. I asked my mom to buy Dragon Ball Z stickers so I could place them on top of the notebooks’ pages. I drew inspiration from them and wrote anything I could think about the character stuck on each paper.</p>
<p class="graf--p">I got back to writing in my notebooks again during high school, scribbling stories that were taking place in fantasy worlds. I was J.K. Rowling; only that my writing kind of sucked. I wrote countless short stories and poetry that never saw the light of day. Believe me, I wanted to but I just thought they were never enough to astound even the simplest of minds.</p>
<p class="graf--p">But I continued writing for myself and it got me to where I am today. So are writers born or made? For me to answer this question, here are four myths and realities of writing that aspiring writers should know.</p>
<h2 class="graf--h3">MYTH: BEING A BRILLIANT WRITER IS A GIFT.</h2>
<h2 class="graf--h3">FACT: WRITING BRILLIANTLY IS A LEARNED SKILL.</h2>
<p><img class="alignright wp-image-138 size-medium" src="http://res.cloudinary.com/dp5xd8woh/image/upload/h_300,w_240/v1461479827/school-1073571_1280_gksi0g.jpg" width="240" height="300" />While I’m not yet as brilliant as J.K Rowling or Stephen King, I believe that great writers have become who they are through constant practice. Most seasoned authors agree that the knack for expertly weaving words together can be developed overtime. It usually begins during the years of your stay at school, wherein you are taught to write through a structured process. With formal instruction, you can properly learn the basics and technicalities of writing that help you become a proficient writer.</p>
<h2 class="graf--h3">MYTH: WRITING WELL IS A SINGLE SPECIAL SKILL.</h2>
<h2 class="graf--h3">FACT: WRITING WELL IS THE COMBINED RESULT OF MASTERING A WIDE RANGE OF SKILLS.</h2>
<p class="graf--p">You won’t have the ability to write well if you don’t know how to apply the rules of grammar and vocabulary. There’s also the need to construct and organize sentences properly and make them coherent to form a single thought. These are skills that are often honed in institutions, which are backed up by feedback from instructors.</p>
<p class="graf--p">There are times that students are given writing prompts from which to start their writing process. Students are sometimes asked to give voices to their works, whether they are written to inform, persuade, narrate, document, or report. Each writing style requires a different skill set from the rest. Demonstrating a mastery of all these skills is in itself a difficult thing to do.</p>
<h2 class="graf--h3">MYTH: THERE’S ONLY ONE WRITING PROCESS THAT ALL WRITERS FOLLOW.</h2>
<h2 class="graf--h3">FACT: MOST WRITERS FOLLOW THEIR OWN UNIQUE WRITING PROCESS.</h2>
<p class="graf--p">It might be ideal to follow a formal writing process to ensure quality writing. However, most writers have their own techniques that work well for them. This is because we have individual learning styles that allow us to adapt to methods that help align our goals. For instance, a lot of writers today undergo ideation as they write since technology has allowed people to reorganize thoughts quickly. Instead of following the traditional writing process, they forego the prewriting stage and directly go straight to writing their first draft. Everything else follows after that.</p>
<h2 class="graf--h3">MYTH: BRILLIANT STORY-TELLING OR WRITING IS EASILY TEACHABLE.</h2>
<h2 class="graf--h3">FACT: NOT REALLY. GREAT WRITERS SHARE COMMON TRAITS THAT SIMPLY CANNOT BE TAUGHT.</h2>
<p><img class="alignnone wp-image-139" src="http://res.cloudinary.com/dp5xd8woh/image/upload/v1461480003/child_reading_tpjsuz.jpg" width="1280" height="847" /></p>
<p class="graf--p">One of the most common characteristics that great writers share from their early years is that they start to read differently than the rest of us. As observed by most, the people who grow up to be writers study and practice their writing skills on their own. It stems from their strong reading habits. Not only are they prodigious readers, but they also analyse how authors craft and put their stories together.</p>
<p class="graf--p">As what I always say on this blog, one of my primary reasons for reading is that I want to know how brilliant writers write. I usually study how they make use of sentences. Do they use short or long sentences? Are they concise with their descriptions? Do they use lots of details to describe something? How are they able to handle different point of views and provide meaningful life to their characters?</p>
<p class="graf--p">Analyzing an author’s writing style can be taught, but most authors shared that they started doing this by themselves.</p>
<p class="graf--p">While you may not be as great as George R.R. Martin today, take comfort in knowing that you can learn to become a good or even a great writer. It takes years- this is a fact- but with sheer determination and lots of practice, you can hone your writing skills throughout the years.</p>
<p class="graf--p">You can start today. You don’t have to be a pro to begin telling your story. You don’t even have to tell a soul that you’re doing it. Just write, maybe to simply clear your head and materialize your thoughts. Pick up a pen and a paper or open a word processor to start writing. Allow the ink to bleed; let the words flood on your screen. Tell your imagination to fly.</p>
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Sadly, we only have 24 hours in a day and we usually already have planned out how our day is going to be. Like me, most would spend 8–10 hours at work; 6–8 hours asleep; and a little bit more time with family and friends. This kind of time management doesn’t leave much time for your hobbies.
Sometimes, when I’m totally addicted to a book, I sacrifice something like watching TV or surfing the web at night. There are also days that I don’t feel like reading and instead opt for other hobbies like painting, watching black comedy films, writing/blogging, and sleeping. Yes, sleeping.
Simply put, I make it my business to efficiently set up my priorities. Hey, something’s got to go for the day. If you’ve got a chance to live through this day, you’ll still have time to do your other hobbies the next day.
CREATE A ROUTINE
While it might seem counter-intuitive, this is actually effective in finding the time to read happen. Your goal is simply to make time to read. In my case, I read before I go to sleep, during the weekends, and sometimes, while commuting.
SET A GOAL OR DEADLINE
My reading pace is not that excellent, so I don’t usually set deadlines. It becomes worse if the pace of the story I’m reading slows to a crawl. So I simply choose to read books as they come. However, I set a broader monthly goal. Just like my goal of buying at least one or two novels a month, I see to it that I can also finish reading two books in 30 or so days. Because of setting up this goal, I usually hold myself accountable for it. You should try it for yourself and experience the great feeling of accomplishing something you think is impossible.
FOLLOW YOUR PASSION
![](<p><strong>Title:</strong> Gone Girl<br />
<strong>Author:</strong> Gillian Flynn<br />
<strong>ISBN:</strong> 978-0307588364<br />
<strong>Published:</strong> June 2012, Crown Publishing Group<br />
<strong>Target Audience:</strong> Adult<br />
<strong>Genre:</strong> Mystery, Thriller</p>
<p>The fact that I bought a paperback copy of Gone Girl after reading its ebook version is really a testament that the novel should be the one to go in the treasure chest. Gone Girl is the first Gillian Flynn book I have read a year ago, and after that I have been wanting for more. I don’t know how to start this; the book is so twisted I am lost for words. Having read all of Flynn’s books, I could say that Gone Girl is her best yet, probably a magnum opus, and definitely the best psychological thriller in the contemporary scene so far.</p>
<p>Gone Girl possesses the familiar Gillian Flynn power that’s going to chill readers to the bones. And why not? It is so unsettling and cynical that you would begin to wonder if the ones you love are those you think they really are. Once you turn the first page and read what Nick Dunne thinks of his wife’s head, you are in a creepy, thrilling ride of your life.</p>
<h2><strong>SYNOPSIS</strong></h2>
<figure id="attachment_168" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img class="wp-image-168" src="http://res.cloudinary.com/dp5xd8woh/image/upload/v1461487515/Gone_Girl_myxpff.jpg" width="1280" height="850" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Ben Affleck plays Nick Dunne, the primary suspect of Amy Dunne’s disappearance and apparent murder.</figcaption></figure>
<p>The gripping story revolves around the troubled marriage of Nick and Amy Dunne, two New York journalists who ended up living in Nick’s depressing hometown North Carthage after losing their writing jobs. Amy, who has been raised pampered and trust-funded as a Manhattan socialite, detests their ordeal, much more their rented McMansion that Nick chose for them to live in. Even so, Nick still managed to open a bar with his twin sister Margo using Amy’s trust fund money.</p>
<p>Everything becomes hellish on the day of the couple’s fifth year anniversary when Amy suddenly turns missing with traces of murder found in their McMansion kitchen. Nick, who came home after a quick beach stroll early that morning, finds himself in the middle of a murder accusation. All pieces of evidence lead back to him, including Amy’s diary that Nick wasn’t aware his wife had all the time.</p>
<p>The plot then progresses as Nick tries to clear his name and win the public’s heart. But Nick turns out to be a poor liar, who lives a double life and pretends that everything is fine throughout their marriage. Suddenly, a series of twists and turns starts to prevail and there seems to be no way of telling who is really saying the truth. Is Amy really murdered? Does Nick have something to do with it? What’s really the motive of the New York sweetheart’s sudden disappearance?</p>
<h2><strong>ANALYSIS</strong></h2>
<p>Nick and Amy Dunne are not your stereotypical troubled couple. Yes, they might appear as one at first, but there’s more to them than meets the eye. And that’s how Gillian Flynn crafted two deep, complex main characters in this chilling third novel. As readers are thrown back and forth between Nick’s narrative and Amy’s diary entries prior to her disappearance, I was led to believe in things that might really have not happened after all. Something happens and everything I knew changes in just a flash. They are the perfect definition of unreliable narrators, something that Gillian Flynn has apparently mastered and applied to her excruciatingly twisted protagonists’ inner monologues.</p>
<p>If Agatha Christie were alive, Gillian Flynn would have given Agatha a run for her money. But of course, Agatha is Agatha, and Gillian has her own way of presenting her narrative. What makes Gone Girl and her other books so dangerous and delicious to read is her tense prose, written through her irresistible, razor sharp wit. She’s a good architect when it comes to shaping the entirety of her story, shepherding us to the unpredictability of its dark corners. There are a good many crime writers out there, but not one has come close to Gillian’s style of writing. She sure doesn’t disappoint when it comes to presenting the savage and toxic side of the human psyche.</p>
<p>If you ever decide to jump on the bandwagon of Gone Girl fanatics, I recommend that you read the book when you are not alone because it’s going to scare you in more ways than one. But I assure you, while the fright lingers inside you, there’s going to be no intention on your side to put it down.</p>
<p><strong>Rating: <img class="alignnone wp-image-167" src="http://res.cloudinary.com/dp5xd8woh/image/upload/v1461487461/5stars_ba1tke.png" width="93" height="17" /></strong></p>
<blockquote><p><em>“There’s something disturbing about recalling a warm memory and feeling utterly cold.”</em></p></blockquote>
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Reading a book you don’t enjoy gets you to nowhere, even if your best friend suggested it. In order to not feel that you are wasting your time, think about the things that interest you. If you’re passionate about cooking, you can read novels or biographies about chefs. If you are having fun of what you are reading, then maybe you’ll also find other stuff related to it enjoyable. Soon, you will learn to love almost every piece of literature your eyes can lay on (it’s not guaranteed, though).
EXPAND YOUR READING PREFERENCES
Sometimes, reading the same thing or the same author again and again can get boring. If you’ve been reading all Sidney Sheldon books, maybe it’s time to try your hands on a leadership book. Trying out other genre or switching from fiction to non-fiction is a great way to avoid book burn out. Mix categories up and soon you’ll be surprised that you’ve taken a liking on a genre far from what you were used to.
In my case, I usually find the time to read blog posts about leadership and entrepreneurship every morning and during my lunch break. Although I like fiction, there’s no harm in knowing things that I can actually use in real life.
If you’re looking for me, you’d probably spot me at home reading or in bookstores flipping the pages of random books or in front of the laptop writing something. I know what you’re thinking: “Your life must be pretty boring”. My life isn’t boring; it’s actually far from that. I also go to places, play sports, and love the beach!
Because I have efficiently inserted the time to read into my daily life, I’ve also become efficient and productive at the other things that I do. I’ve managed not just my lifestyle but also my time quite well. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
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