January 26, 2024/12a

The world of literature is a fascinating one.

You can be transported to a whole new world, a new universe even.

With the power of books, you can go into any new life that you want.

Some of you may be intrigued by the thought of going into a new universe but have a tough time with the starting foundations of getting to that point.

The first thing you must do is find a word, trope, or style of writing that you enjoy, or believe you would enjoy.

If I am going for realistic books, I enjoy reading hockey romances with a dual point of view. Any trope will do if it is in a hockey book.

If I am going into the fantasy romance realm (or romantasy for my book lovers) I love a good enemies to lovers with a dual point of view, or a female main character point of view, and then randomly one chapter is in the male main characters point of view, and we can see how he doesn’t actually hate her.

So, after you find the trope and world you want to submerge yourself in, next you have to find the key time to start reading and pick a good area to read.

I recommend picking something comfortable, my recommendation is your bed or the couch/chair. All are guaranteed comfortable spaces, and you can choose how many pillows and blankets you pile on with.

Once you have your comfortable space picked out, it’s time to think ahead. What happens if you get thirsty? Or hungry? But you are so absorbed in your book that the thought of getting up is blasphemy.

It is ideal to have a water bottle, or your preferred beverage like coffee or tea, and a light snack available to you if needed.

Next to consider are distractions. I know for me; I am very easily distracted by my phone. If you want to read without any distractions, I strongly recommend putting your phone on “do not disturb” and putting it somewhere not easily accessible to you.

By doing this you will limit the urge to go on your phone and succumb to those distractions, like Tik Tok if you are like me.

Now that we’ve got distractions, location and food covered, now it is time to consider what the best time is to begin reading.

I do not recommend starting a book before you go to bed if you can sense that it will be hard to put it down after starting it.

One would think that being a lifelong reader like me, I would not do this, I do.

Not starting a book before bed is far easier said than done. Especially when the book is so consuming and the characters just held hands for the first time, the last thing you want to do is put it down and go to sleep.

My recommendation to you (that I try to follow myself) is to start reading 2 ½ hours, or truthfully however long before you deem necessary, before you typically go to sleep.

By doing this, it gives you ample reading time to give real time reactions to your ceiling, without compromising your sleep schedule.

Now that you have the foundations to lose yourself in a book, you are hereby ready to do so.

Go read and go enjoy what you are reading.

Some book recommendations from me (definitely all hockey romance):

• Any (literally any) Elle Kennedy book
• Icebreaker- Hannah Grace
• Lucky Hit- Hannah Cowan
• SinBin- Anastasija White
• Famous Last Words- C.W. Farnsworth
• Breakaway Hearts- Nikki Lawson
• Offside Hearts- Nikki Lawson