This Year, I Made the Goal to Read Less – Balancing Books as a Book Reviewer

But being fully absorbed in the book community completely transformed my reading habits – for better or for worse. While being a book reviewer brought me the consistency and routine that’s often desired, the feeling of needing to produce, schedule, and push content around what is generally a slow hobby contributed to phases of burnout that were just as consistent.

I always tried to find balance in unattainable ways – but why the unneeded pressure? I wasn’t enjoying what I was reading as much, and my hobby was becoming much less of one. So I decided to take a step back on reviewing, and just focusing on what I wanted to read in that particular moment. (Because as it turns out, I can really want to read an arc, but the second I’m on a set schedule to read it, my mood completely changes).

So, I made this weird goal. Right? And not even halfway through the year, I’ve ended up reading a pretty close quantity to what I was doing before.

So, what’s the difference?

For one, I’m not producing nearly as much content. But my reading also isn’t on a set schedule anymore. For me, it felt natural to schedule content for Instagram and my blog – but it didn’t feel natural to plan my reading. I’m overall a big planner person, but I was a big mood reader, and this was contributing to my consistent blogger burnout.

It’s easy to feel pressure to put out consistent content.

Or, at least it’s easy for me to put pressure on *myself* to put out consistent content.

And to be honest, this isn’t really much of a blog thing (although my blog has consistently suffered in my abandoning it). I think Instagram has always been the main culprit – knowing I’ll be penalized simply for not posting consistently and frequently makes it difficult to keep up with producing content. Plus, I was duplicating my efforts on the blog in a pretty inefficient way.

In the past year or so, I picked up crocheting. And lately, I’ve been following more fiber arts content creators. Crochet, like reading, is something that takes a lot of time. And if you’re familiar with crochet, you know how frequently you have to take breaks in order to save your wrists. Basically, a 24-hour readathon is a little more feasible than a 24-hour crochetathon.

So how do fiber arts creators fill the gaps? They certainly don’t by destroying their joints to pump out projects. There’s certainly a reduced frequency to posting that comes with the hobby, but much of the content that I see involves content around the hobby itself, or simply just a matter of enjoying the process.

There’s also nothing wrong with wanting to put out consistent content.

And it’s true! I’m still very inspired by those who put out bookish content on a very frequent basis, and especially those who come up with unique reading challenges that involve a lot of planning, time, and dedication. But for the time being, I’m going to acknowledge that this structure of content creation is not something I can realistically do – and that stems from a combination of wanting to take my reading and content creation at different paces, as well as having things that are going to ultimately take a higher priority – I.e. having two jobs.

Balancing Books as a Book Reviewer – Can It Be Done?

The bookish community as a whole has definitely changed me for the better. But I’ve also used it as a justification to read ALL the books, buy ALL the books, and ultimately not read ALL the books I buy. I’ve also fallen into traps of requesting ALL the ARCs, taking out ALL the library books, and leaving myself ALL the stress of something THATS SUPPOSED TO BE A HOBBY.

But this is a really easy pattern to fall into. When I started crocheting, I acquired more yarn than I could reasonably go through because I had so many ideas. When I started really getting into makeup, I acquired lots of eyeshadow pallets – but those things have expiration dates!

It was a little easier to fall out of these other traps because some things do have expirations, but books were a thing that I felt I could just have on my shelves forever. But now I realize that is also giving me some unnecessary stress. And why would I do that to myself? There are things actually worth worrying about.

So in this first half of the year, I’ve made some changes to how I function as a hobby content creator to learn the best way for me to approach balancing books as a book reviewer. And if you’re feeling like you’re in a similar spot, perhaps these approaches can help you too!

Ditching the Content Calendar.

Gasp – I know.

Last year I thought I’d *never* just post when I felt like it. But I’ve been doing that on my Instagram, and it feels really good. Whenever I finish a book and want to talk about it, I’ll share. If I go to a coffee shop and read, I’ll share that too. Sometimes I just want to do something creative in general and post a reel around books and lifestyle. This is something I’ve always done, but now I just do it when I feel like it, and it’s way easier for me to manage. And yeah, I won’t see as much growth as I was when I was posting every other day, but I really don’t care about that anymore. I just enjoy the creative aspects as well as interacting with the friends I’ve made.

I feel much of the same on my blog – but I feel that the ease of accessibility on my phone vs a computer also prevents me from posting on here as much.

Which brings me to my next point.

Making the platforms work for you.

To be honest, I haven’t quite figured out how to make content creation across both my Instagram ns blog efficient. And what I mean by that is being able to post similar content across platforms without duplicating a ton of work.

But there are other ways to manage multiple platforms well, or just one, by simply scheduling things in advance. Templatizing post formats is another. And finally, helping technology help you. Are there ways to use IFTTT, for example, to schedule events? Can AI-generated tools lend a hand? These are things I look forward to figuring out (and sharing!) as I learn.

Eliminate Internal Pressure.

I’m always pressuring myself to do better with my hobbies.

Silly, isn’t it?

I see other content creators I love posting so frequently and consistently, with such high-quality content.

But that’s not something I can commit to, and that’s okay.

The one thing I do want to be consistent with is staying engaged with the community as a whole. But other than that, there’s no need to pressure myself if I don’t write blog posts every week or even month.

So, I think that’s it.

The goal of reading less might be weird in theory, it ultimately s helping me balance reading and content creation. The book community really did change my relationship with reading! And while some things are great, I no longer intend on reading every single book with the intent of reviewing it in depth. It was fun while I did it, but in order to keep my love for both books and blogging, it was time to slow down.

Tell me, how do you balance books, blogging, and maintaining multiple platforms? Do you feel that your reading habits have changed after being a part of the online book community? Let me know – I’m curious to hear if our experiences are similar!