A Day in the Life of a Part-Time Book Blogger

I have been blogging about books for over a year now (here and on Write Through the Night), and because I write about books as a job, I read a lot! I also balance two other (volunteer) jobs, both in the non-profit world in senior management: the President of Youth MOVE National, a US based non-profit that seeks to amplify youth voice in youth-serving systems and seeks to connect youth on the ground to external support in activism and change making, and the Director of Community Engagement and Outreach at GSA Link, a non-profit supporting LGBTQ+ youth and their families across the country through groups, one-on-one mentorship and parent support in virtual settings to maximize accessibility.

With all that being said, I tend to have a chaotic schedule that changes day to day. Some days, I can spend the majority of my day reading, and others, I have to get reading done in between multiple Zoom meetings.

I wanted to share what this looks like for me on my most chaotic days, since folks are always kind of shocked about how much I read in a year.

As a disclaimer: I am a very fast reader naturally (about 600 words per minute on average) and I am a firm believer in reading at your own pace. You do not need to read faster, especially if you are reading for fun!

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I wake up around 6:30 each morning. I usually lounge around for a bit listening to music before feeding my cat, Sullivan. I made myself a little coffee bar in my apartment, so I make myself coffee and breakfast, then immediately grab a book from my shelf or a current read to get a half hour of reading in before I need to check emails.

I respond to any emails I have accumulated since the night before, then get myself up to date on what my calendar for the day looks like. I try to read in between meetings as often as I can, so I tend to keep a book on my desk for when I am done.

Whenever I finish a book, I do a few things: I enter it in my Book Log, then I mark it as read in my Book Inventory if it was a physical copy (both of these tasks are handled in Google Sheets). Since I now do a reading roundup every week, I also write a little blurb as soon as I can after reading the book, to minimize that workload come the day of posting.

I love to read and I am always trying to maximize my time doing it, but I also know my limits, and if reading a bunch of pages is just not doable on any given day, I just try to get ten or so pages read and allow myself to put the book down. I will usually try to pick up a thriller if I am having a hard time reading, since I tend to get sucked into them and I have a lot of them on my shelf.

I have also recently begun quitting reading books I am not enjoying. I was so hard on myself and felt I had to finish each book I read, and most of the time I do anyway, but I have given up on three books this year which I count as a positive.

As far as how much time I spend on reading and blogging a week, it ranges wildly! Some weeks I spend about 8 hours, others upwards of 20! It all depends on how much writing I have to get done, since I tend to bulk write posts when I have the energy and motivation. I love doing this, and also acknowledge it is stressful sometimes. As an autistic person for whom this is a special interest for, I have a hard time doing any of this casually. Or anything else casually, really.

Overall, I am thrilled to be able to do this and I am working on gaining a bigger audience and maybe someday find a collaborator to work with! For now, I am just keeping my schedule consistent and enjoying the ride!