I never thought I’d say this, but here’s my answer to the reading slump: Stop reading.
About three weeks ago, I had a period of major crunching, and for two solid weeks I didn’t read a thing. My review books lay sulking on the table. The books I’d borrowed from friends were abandoned. Comfort reads were no longer a comfort – how could they be, when I couldn’t even face opening their covers? No newspapers, no magazines, and had the Bernstein Bears appeared I would have shunned them too. In short, I went into total reading freeze. For me, that’s huge.
The main reason was simply a question of fatigue – I’ve been too tired to do anything except work, eat, and sleep, emphasis on the latter. But when it was over, and after getting a solid ten hours of sleep, I successfully opened a book. And from the ashes arose an interesting realization: I was glad to take a break from reading. I was satisfied that I had stopped. I read that book enthusiastically, even though it turned out to be a dud. I was once again happy in the world of literature. All because I’d stopped reading.
Personally, if only given one choice I’d far prefer a bad beginning to a bad ending. The beginning sets the stage and opens the book, but who are we kidding? We’re romance readers. The ending’s the clincher. The ending’s our couple’s future. It’s the reader’s conviction that everything we just read is legit. If I don’t believe in the happy ending, then the story is sunk.
I was reading J. D. Robb’s 
Finding a balance in life is challenging. The routines, the career, the relationships, the finances, and family and friends – it isn’t easy compartmentalizing as well as merging all of these together, and too often we become over-involved in one area while others, especially personal relationships, suffer. But it must be particularly difficult for those in the creative arts.
