In a world where short-form content reigns supreme, the novel becomes increasingly anachronistic. After all, it’s hard to keep yourself engaged while reading an over 1,000-page-long saga when technicolor, dancing bananas are served to your phone screen on a silver platter. I mean, come on. If they didn’t want us to doomscroll, they shouldn’t have Subway Surfers splitting the screen!
Even so, one of my top New Year’s resolutions is to read 50 books. When I was younger, I was reading practically every second of every day. In my preteens, I was a veritable Young-Adult Fantasy aficionado. However, as the years went by and my window of free time became smaller and smaller, I began to read less and less.
I traded my copies of Warrior Cats for aesthetic get-ready-with-mes, and the absence of any real form of escapism in my life was absolutely overwhelming. Sure, it’s fun to watch someone restock their Diet Coke fridge for the umpteenth time, but even something as gripping as that gets old after a while.
I might be alone in this, but I feel most motivated by a sense of accomplishment. When I can tell myself that I’ve finished a task and I can see tangible proof of my efforts, my anxiety tapers off to a low ebb. So, I thought to myself, why should reading be any different?
Thus began a years-long love affair. As it turns out, the incentive of feeling as though I’ve been productive was more than enough to get me to read! In fact, it helped to cure my reading slump. Well, that and the A Song of Ice and Fire series, but I digress.
Just as there are thousands of books out there to read, so are reading journals! Whether you opt for a blank journal in which you’ll draw out your own trackers and charts, or a premade one that arrives ready-to-use, the possibilities are practically endless.
Though there are no doubt fancier reading journals available for purchase (like the Papier brand shown above), the Kunitsa Co. Reading Journal is my favorite. You can track your reading habits each day, leave in-depth reviews and comments on your favorite books, and even keep track of ones loaned to friends!
One of the best parts of the journal, in my humble opinion, is the pages left for the user to record the books they’ve read. I must say, one of the most satisfying feelings in the world is to shade in those little stacked books. It’s also really cool to look back at all the books you’ve read over the years. Each time I begin a new novel, I pick a marker color that resembles the cover and use it when I shade anything in. By the time my first year with this journal was over, my tracker looked like a rainbow!
Some journals also include trackers for multiple years, so no need to buy a new one every January. Having a reading journal genuinely makes me excited to read. It can seem a little silly, but I really have noticed an almost exponential uptick in the number of pages I read per day.
Having a reading journal has greatly helped to build consistency in my reading journey. When I physically map out how much I read each day, I have a greater sense of accountability in terms of keeping up my “reading streak,” so to speak. If I skip a day in my tracker, I feel like I’ve let myself down. Of course, life happens; it’s unrealistic for me to assume that I’m going to read at least once a day for a whole year, but it doesn’t change the fact that having a reading journal makes me want to read more!
If you’re looking for something to reignite your love of reading, maybe give journaling a try. So far, my January streak is going strong. Maybe I’ll increase my reading goal after all!
Want to see more HCFSU? Be sure to follow us on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Pinterest!