How Book Blogging Has Changed My Reading Habits

Hey guys! It’s Ariel, and I have been a book blogger for almost 5 months now. Today I thought I would share with you some of the ways that becoming a book blogger has changed my reading habits/the way I view reading. Most of these are definitely positive changes, but there are also some that are more on the negative side. I’m going to share them all with you today.

1. I read so much more.

Since I started really immersing myself in this bookish Internet world, I have realized how very few books I have actually read. I am a reader—I have always loved reading. Until this year, though, I wasn’t making reading a priority, and so there were often months that went by where I wouldn’t read a book at all (I know, scandalous, right?). Book blogging has motivated me to read more, not only because I want to keep my content from getting too repetitive, but also because I have an outlet for all these bookish thoughts now. I have a community of people that I can talk to about books, and that is really nice.

2. I have become a more careful reader.

I used to just read books to read, not really thinking about the reasons why I felt a certain way about a book. Now, especially if I am planning on reviewing a book, I pay more careful attention to my emotions as I am reading. I approach the books I read from a more analytical perspective, so that later, if I decide to review them, I have something I can draw from other than just “I loved it so much!!!”

That is not to say that I don’t let myself have fun while reading, of course. If that ever happens, then I should just stop blogging right then.

3. I have less time to read.

This one is an interesting one to me. In point 1, I talked about how being a book blogger has made me want to, and actually, read more, and that is very true. But at the same time, as a book blogger, I have to write and schedule blog posts and at least try to Tweet on a semi-regular basis, as well as keep up with all my other, real-life responsibilities. This isn’t me complaining—I love doing it, and if I didn’t love it, I wouldn’t do it. I’m just saying that those extra responsibilities should technically add up to me having less time to read.

The difference, though, is that now I am so much more organized. I don’t let myself waste as much time as I used to, and that has been a game changer for my reading, and for my life in general as well. That brings me to my next point.

4. I schedule in reading time.

It’s not just reading time that I schedule, actually. It’s pretty much everything. I have always had a planner, but what I used to do was use the planner for a few weeks at the beginning of each year or school year, and then just stop using it. Now, I actively write to-do lists and schedules for myself every day, and then I try as hard as I can to stick to those plans. Reading is, of course, one of those things that I schedule.

5. I feel guilty when I don’t meet my reading goals.

This is one of the more negative aspects of being a book blogger for me. You see, I have a tendency to set very high goals for myself, and I also have a tendency to be very hard on myself. So, it follows that when I don’t meet those goals, I feel awful. As a book blogger, I now set monthly goals for myself in the form of TBRs. On one hand, those TBRs are really helpful—they give me a concrete goal to reach for, and they have motivated me to read so much more than I normally do. On the other hand, though, when I don’t meet them, I feel like I have failed somehow.

6. I’m much more excited about reading.

I didn’t want to end on a downer, so I decided that I would include this one as my final point. These days, book hype is so much more a part of my life than it used to be. I can open Twitter, and I see tons of people raving about the new books coming out. I look on Goodreads, and I get recommendations and other people’s reviews of great books. I can look through the comments on my blog, and I see some people sharing their love of reading. It’s so much easier to get excited about things when the people around you are excited too. I love that being a book blogger gives me the chance to feed off of that hype and build up some of my own. I am falling in love with reading again, and it’s the best feeling.

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Okay, guys! Those are all the ways I could think that becoming a book blogger has changed my reading habits. I hope you enjoyed!

Let me know down in the comments what ways your reading habits have changed, whether you’re a book blogger or not. I can’t wait to discuss with you guys.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you next time!

-Ariel