(Or how to maximize your reading time when your life is a dumpster of chaos)

What books do you want to read?

I am not a fast reader or a big reader, and I’ve never been. I read anywhere from 6-12 books a year. That’s it. For a writer, that’s not a lot, and for someone who reads books that’s not enough. There are so many great books that I want to read. I’m doing a few things to spend more time reading:

Less Doom Scrolling, More Books

I’ve pulled all social media off my phone except for Bluesky. I’ve probably got to pull that, too. Taking all the social media off my phone makes me reach for my kindle app when I would usually reach for the quick dopamine hit of twitter. In line at the grocery? Surely I can read a paragraph. Waiting for my kids at pick up? That’s an entire page.

The main issue with this is that it results in more fragmented reading. I grew up as a binge reader – an entire Saturday, immersed in sunlight and words. Staying up reading all night. I’m not great at retaining a story when I get a paragraph here and there, and I’m definitely not great at sinking into the tone of the writing. So even though I can read MORE in these little stolen moments, they don’t feel as satisfying to me. And who wants to waste a good book?

The second issue is that one of the things I find myself spending a lot of time on these days is not exactly social media, but discord. Talking with other writers. Maybe it’s time to limit that as well. But I also have to consider that in my everyday life I am surrounded by 0 queer people, 0 polyam people, no Americans, few English speakers and… hell, few adults. So there has to be a balance between books and “hey there are people in the world who are a little bit like me.” I might not have found that balance yet, but it’s something I’m keeping in mind as I weed out “time sucks”.

More Audiobooks

Can 2026 be the year that audio books are no longer controversial? In a world where authors are struggling more than ever, audiobooks are one of the rising hopes in publishing. Maybe people enjoy the experience of being read to, once again like a child or similar to lost communal experiences. Or maybe it’s more about our packed schedules and fractured attention spans. Whatever the reason, audiobooks are popular, available, and convenient. I enjoy listening to them on long drives, but I only take those a few times a year, and I’m often with my children, which means audiobooks in the car tend to be middle grade books. Nothing wrong with that, and I’ve enjoyed a LOT of them, but my TBR trends older and darker.

I’ve also found I can’t listen to audio books while doing most chores. Not because I can’t do two things at once, but because I keep getting interrupted by the kiddos. There’s nothing that breaks the concentration like a kid asking a question while you’re elbow deep in raw chicken and listening to The Girls. So while I like the audiobook-during-chores idea, I find it doesn’t really work for me.

What does work for me is audiobooks at bedtime. I like a half-hour of a book before bed. The trick is to not let myself get too sleepy. Sometimes I’ve let a book go for too long and then I have to rewind it the next day because I’ve drifted too close to sleep while listening. But they are still a good way to get books in when I’m too tired to stay upright and reading. (Of course… at that point it might be healthier to actually sleep…)

A Reading Plan

I tend to spend a lot of time between books. This year I’ve come up with a reading plan. I’ve got an actual list of cult books that I plan to read, so if I finish a book and don’t know what to reach for next, I can just go down that list, see if anything’s on Libby. If not, figure out one to buy. Boom. I’ve got a book to read. Honestly, the BEST way to do this would probably to buy all of my books in January and then I’ve got them. But frugal me, I’m always hoping I might be able to get one or two through my library – even though I have not once gotten a requested book.

Family Reading Time

My 12-year-old son loves to read. Every morning, when he should be getting ready for school, he’s on the couch reading. In the evening, unless I give him computer time, he’s reading. I’m thinking to put a few nights aside when we can cuddle on the couch and read together. As my kids grow up, I miss that cuddle time, so putting these two things together will be the best for me.

No Electronics In Bed

This is something I wanted to start in the new house. I planned to not take my computer or phone to bed. I wanted to just have an old phone with only a clock and audible on it in my bedroom and to only allow my kindle in bed. Have I followed these rules? Absolutely not. I have my phone in bed every night and I have my computer in bed most nights. This means even if I plan to read, I tend to waste half an hour or more “winding down” OR I stay up until midnight writing and then I have no time to read. Neither of these are great for my sleep or my reading. So hopefully I start following my rules soon.

Less Writing

When I started working full time, I didn’t realize how much that would cut down on my writing. After all, I only write for a couple of hours a day, right? But in reality, my writing involves thinking and daydreaming and looking up random facts. I might only write for an hour, but it takes four hours on my computer to get that hour of writing out. Which means, I can’t write a short story every week and a novel every year. Between work and kids, it’s just not possible. If I want to read, it’s even less possible.

I wrote four short stories and one novel last year (that is still in draft four, not finished). It pains me a bit because I still have plenty of stories in me. I still want to grow as a writer. I have a lot of techniques and topics to explore. But the truth is I have a full time job and kids – which means I only have a few hours a week that are “mine.” If I want to be able to read, I need to take that time from something else. And the only other hobby taking up space in my week is writing. So it means I need to write even less. It makes me sad, but I also miss reading.

Books I May Never Get To

All that being said, these are the books that sit on my TBR, that I wish I could give into:

Sci Fi Classics

One of my writing friends is constantly trying to get me to read sci fi (and fantasy) classics. While I can happily skip most of the fantasy, I really want to spend more time reading sci fi classics. Is it too forward to say I want more Dick in my life? On my list are:

• Any and all things by Philip K. Dick
• I, Robot
• Any Heinlein I haven’t gotten to yet
• Neuromancer
• Slaughterhouse-Five
• Make Room! Make Room!
• Logan’s Run
• The Female Man
• Roadside Picnic / Tale of the Troika
• I Who Have Never Known Men (is that old enough to be considered a classic?)
• The Cyberiad
• Snow Crash
• The Ship Who Sang
• More Butler

I’m sure there are many, many more books that should be on this list (some that I’ve already read). I feel like I put aside the classics because there is always something new and fresh that I want to read. But I want to give time to some of these books this year.

Cosmic Horror

Honestly, cosmic horror is a genre I’ve only gotten into over the past three years, and almost everything I’ve read has been a short story or novella. I want to give some time to read full novels in this genre.

Women Writing Space

Most of my sci fi stories focus on two things: neural implants or generation ships. I want to see what other women are doing in these genres. Some gaps I want to fill:

• Maybe the Murderbot Diaries
• Ann Leckie
• Becky Chambers
• Sarah Pinkser
• Nnedi Okorafor

Again, I’m sure there are a lot more, this is just scraping the surface of who I want to read.

Indie Authors

I want to give more time to indie authors. Every indie book I’ve read in the past two years has blown my mind. I want to read more.

Award Winners

At the same time, I want to read the award winners. I want specifically want to go back and read most of the nominees/winners of the Philip K. Dick and Shirley Jackson awards.

Books On Cults

On top of all that, I’ve got a bunch of books on cults I want to read this year for my series on books about cults, which is going to take a lot of my time.

I should probably make a list of all the books I want to read and start working my way from the top down. I also want to get better about writing up the books I read. We’ll see about that.