How to Beat Boredom As A Bookworm

Do you have days when you don't know what to do? When you're just sort of zombieing around in a state of utter, utter boredom and feel like you're wasting your life? When you don't even feel like reading?

(You'd better, or I'm going to feel even worse.)

Never fear, bookworms! Right now, I'm on my summer holidays, which means that I am an absolute expert at fending off boredom in the most bookish of ways. I have ideas you can use at a moment's notice with access to the internet or maybe some books, and also some that might require some planning and - maybe - leaving the house. No, really. You should listen to me anyway.

You wouldn't want to end up like Sherlock now, would you?

Go to a bookshop and recommend reads to anyone who will listen

This, ladies and gentlemen, is excellent fun. And only a little bit creepy.

The first time I ever did it, I did not intend to. I was just looking to spend all my money as sacrifice to the reading gods. But when a woman came in with two young children and started looking for Percy Jackson books under J as if Percy was the author . . .

I had to say SOMETHING.

Then there was the time I was at the library and a (different) woman dragged her son over to me and asked if I thought he was old enough to read the Alex Rider book he had clutched in his hand. (I can only imagine that, since I was rearranging a shelf that was annoying me, she assumed a worked there.) It was surprisingly satisfying to tell her that, seeing as he'd read Harry Potter, he should be ok, but he was holding the fourth book in the series. I handed her the first one and made my exit.

I guess if you don't feel comfortable doing this, you could just go to the library or bookshop to read. Go ahead. Be normal if you dare.

Plan a party based on your favourite book

Pinterest will be full of ideas for you on this one. Just search "Harry Potter party ideas" or "Lord of the Rings party ideas" or pretty much anything else, and you will be swamped with snack recipes, ideas for decorations and party games. It's a wormhole. You will literally be lost in it for hours, to the point where everything is almost too entertaining. Plan costumes, party bags, and pretty much whatever else you want.

You don't have to actually have the party, of course. That's far too much work in my opinion (but then I'm a nerd who prefers planning things to actually doing them) and you actually need friends who won't stand in the corner reading a book the whole time.

Volunteer at your local library

There is literally no bad side to spending days when you would have been bored working at a library. I mean for a start, you're no longer bored, and you get to spend hours a day surrounded by books. Most libraries, especially small ones, are pretty much always in need of help thanks to the ever-present budget cut, so you're even helping keep afloat the library that is probably supporting your book addiction more than anything else. YAY for aiding the local community (but mostly yourself)!

I know, I'm a selfish and terrible human being. You don't need to tell me again.

GO TO YALC!

I can't believe I'm saying this, but YALC, the UK young adult lit convention, is this weekend - and as of right now, they've still got tickets available! If you can get yourself to London, you can see over eighty authors (full list here), including Malorie Blackman, Holly Bourne, and Maggie Steifvater. There's also a full timetable of writing workshops, and an agent arena where you can hear talks about the publishing industry, or even pitch your work to an agent in a 1-2-1 session.

It's just occurred to me that you might be reading this after YALC 2016 has finished. (Poor you.) Never mind! There are all kinds of book festivals and conventions out there that you could go to. Just spend an hour or two researching online, and you'll forget why you were reading this post.

Set yourself a reading challenge

Sure. There are loads of challenges out there online that you could join in with, but where's the creative fun in that? Besides, some study somewhere has probably shown that humans are more likely to achieve goals they've set themselves.

Just to give you an idea, I've always thought it'd be fun to use a book tag, answering the questions with books on my TBR rather than ones I've already read.

You might not be all that surprised by Friday's post.

Make some bookish crafts

There's all kind of art that can show off your love of books.

Paint the first page of your favourite book on a wall! Make stickers to put in your books so everyone knows they're yours! Create as many bookmarks as humanly possible! Again, Pinterest is great at coming up with ideas for this, especially if you're willing to (take a deep breath here) cut up books and use the pieces for your art. No? Okay. *backs away slowly from rabid bookworms*

Or, if like me you have absolutely no artistic talent whatsoever, you could always buy some pretty things on Etsy and pretend you made them.

Organise your bookshelf

If you've ever even approached the great sparkly being that is Bookstagram, you'll notice that many people's shelves look like rainbows of impossible beauty. The secret? They're organised by colour.

But that's not the only way to go, you guys! Books can be shelved by author, by genre, by length or subject or even how much you enjoyed them. Go wild finding ways to make them look pretty, or easier to find.

Now.

While you're taking books off the shelf, do you think it might be time to get rid of some? WAIT, DON'T BITE MY HEAD OFF! I'm merely suggesting that you could make room for more? It's up to you, but Amber @ The Mile Long Bookshelf wrote this really awesome post on how to root out stuff you don't really need and then what to do with it afterwards.

***

In the comments: When do you normally get bored? What do you like to do to beat it? And are there any non-book-related things that help?

SHARE:

Labels: Reading Life