We all know the saying "procrastination is the thief of time (...year after year it steals till all are fled, And to the mercies of a moment leaves The vast concerns of an eternal scene", Edward Young, 1683-1765), but who or what is the thief of our reading time? Probably not procrastination - though I've been known to swither and dither over what to read next - but as many of us often refer to the number of books we'd like to read and how little time there seems to be for them, this may be something to think about.
I'm not trying to be prescriptive here, everyone should read at their own pace whether that means a book a day or one a month, and always allowing for a fitting balance with other activities and commitments - reading is not everything!
But what really steals your reading time? I acknowledge that if I switch off the computer (radical move) I am more productive in all ways than when I leave it on and pop back to 'just check' email, friends' posts, and so on; others find it's the television that ensnares them for more hours than they might like. We all need relaxation and time spent fairly mindlessly, pottering, daydreaming, browsing can provide a healthy break, but frittering is what I'm talking about here, squandering those precious minutes which might have been spent with a book.
I shall leave you with that thought while I press the shut down button ...
Later: in this article about The Mainstreet Trading Company (which I visited recently), Rosamund de la Hey was asked "What single thing would most help [in running the bookshop]?"; her answer, "More time to read"!
