I’ve been pretty excited to blog about this for some reason. Maybe because I’ll finally be able to read a whole bunch at one time, and learn a whole lot in the process.

There are a ton of books I’ve wanted to read, either books I’ve had for years that I just haven’t been able to pick up, or books that are just making their debut on the shelves of Barnes and Noble. As a writer, I find it super important to keep reading, to study different styles of writing and theme and language.

With my recent finishing of Uninvited by Lysa TerKreust, I realized a couple of things:

1. Slow down…One of my goals as I read through TerKreust’s book was to slow down, and be okay with finishing it in several weeks or a month. After some self-evaluation, I realized that when I was growing up, I always read books extremely fast just so I could say I was done with them, as if it was some sort of race. And even though I got the gist of the story or topic, I found that I was missing crucial parts of the book by doing this. So, in order to slow down, I would take the book a chapter a day, and highlight and underline points that I resonated with or thought were good.
2. So much to read! Even though slowing down is a good thing when reading, I still want to be able to learn a lot more, and read more. It’s nice to be able to focus on one book and one topic for an extended amount of time, but I find that I still tend to wander into different genres before I can sometimes finish a complete book.

Which is why I’ve created a little reading schedule for myself. And I wanted to share it with all of you so that maybe you can be inspired to make a reading schedule of your own, or maybe this will inspire you to just take it a book at a time like I did with TerKreust’s book.

Anyways, to the schedule…

Memoir Mondays

The nonfiction class I took right before graduating from college seriously made me fall in love with memoirs. Ever since I graduated, whenever I see a memoir that seems super interesting, I always end up buying it or saving the title and author for later when I can get to a library.

I’ve dedicated Mondays strictly to reading whatever memoir I’ve got my hands on that I haven’t read yet, or feel the need to read again. My current memoir is The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl by Issa Rae. She’s the writer and entertainer who brought about the HBO TV show Insecure. I’ve already started reading it, and I love it already. She is so funny, and so relatable.

 

Poetry Tuesdays

My love for poetry has increased since my high school years. I used to hate poetry, honestly. I never understood it, and I always thought that it had to rhyme in a certain way, and I just didn’t like the boundaries it seemed to have. Little did I know that my perspective on poetry was very minimal.

But after reading more of it, seeing other styles of poetry, and having friends who were into writing poetry, its beauty became clearer to me. And some of you who have been following my blog for a while have seen that I now love poetry so much that I sometimes write it.

I think a huge turning point for me was when I purchased Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur last summer, and could feel all the emotions in her words. I not only look for good memoirs at the book stores, but also good poetry books as well.

So Tuesdays are strictly for reading poetry. My current poetry book: I Love My Love by Reyna Biddy, the poetess who spoke the “Intro” to Kehlani’s album who I’ve been pretty obsessed with lately since I’m pretty sure I can’t write a blog post without talking about her.

 

Writing Wednesdays

In order to get better at writing, I’ve been told that I should write every day, and I feel like I’m doing a fairly good job at that, so far as I can tell.

But along with my intake of different styles of writing, I feel the need to read about writing itself. No better way to perfect your craft than to do it, and read about it. And this is what Wednesdays are for!

My current writing book I’m reading: Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. This book was actually assigned reading to all the English major seniors as we wrote our senior thesis papers. We only read a few chapters, but I remember them being extremely helpful and encouraging, and as I’m a little freelance writer on my off-time, I felt the need to bring this book back into my weekly reading. Truthfully, I think all my “Writing Wednesday” reading will be writing textbooks I had in college!

 

… Thursdays

I haven’t come up with a clever title for my assigned reading on Thursdays, so right now Thursdays are just a free-for-all i.e. whatever else I feel like reading. My free-for-all reading is Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. I think I read a little Angelou in high school and college, but I want to get to know her better, as a writer and as a person. So I’m super excited to delve into this book!

 

Fiction Fridays

Gotta have a little fiction in the mix! Not that the real world isn’t interesting enough, but it’s nice to get away every once in a while, even if it is just in your mind. Post-grad I’ve been able to read books like The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (yes, for the first time. I don’t know how I never read it until now, okay, don’t judge me!), The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, and The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins.

My recent fiction read is actually a book I received for my birthday from my good friend Jimmy – The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham. Apparently, it’s a classic (what’s up with me being an English major and not reading or knowing any of these classics??), so when Jimmy found out that I hadn’t really even heard of it, he bought me the beautifully illustrated version of it. I mean, guys, it’s pretty top-notch. The artwork is beautiful. And I’m excited to delve into the adventures of Mr. Toad.

 

Sexuality Saturdays

Okay, I just added this to the schedule last night, no lie. But as the world is changing with the legalization of gay marriage a year or so ago, and many people beginning to be more open about their sexuality and gender, I want to educate myself more on this topic. Quite honestly, I’ve never really had any exposure to these things, but as a Christian, I want to learn and understand these subjects so I can better love on people who are a part of the LGBT+ community.

I took a human sexuality class in the fall semester of my senior year in college, and even though I learned a lot, I still feel like I was more focused on getting that good grade than truly understanding the topics discussed. So, to reading I go!

Current sexuality book: Homosexuality and the Christian by Mark A. Yarhouse.

 

Hooray for reading a plethora of books all at one time! I used to be so against this notion because I thought I would get all the subjects and topics confused in my mind, and get overwhelmed. But I feel like these genres are pretty spread out that my mind can handle it. And it’ll keep me from getting too bored of just one book within one genre. I guess we’ll see. I’m too excited!

What books are you currently reading? Can you read several books at once, or do you need the steadiness of one book at a time? What’s your favorite genre to read, and why? Does your reading inspire you to do something else like writing, or trying a new activity you’ve never done before?

#JustStartWriting #JustStartReading

💙 Mishy 🦋