"If you want to write - read" is very good advice, but for me the books and articles at university sucked the joy out of reading. Over the past few years, I have taken steps to rekindle my childhood obsession with reading.
1st - I use Goodreads. It allows me to track my books. In January 2018, I set an easily obtainable goal of 12 books. I read 20 books. This year my goal is 24. As of February 4th, I've read 6. I find flexible goals which I can comfortably exceed useful and encouraging.
2nd - I fit reading into my daily life. I added reading to my calendar in short chucks everyday. In the past, I liked to binge read a book in a day or two, but this leaves me exhausted and means I have little for anything else.
3rd - I use the library. When I see a book or an author I'm interested in, I go online right away and ordered it. Libraries are wonderful because they give free access to many books. Unlike used books, authors receive some money for library loans.
4th - When I find a literary competitions, I read books written by the judges. I read literary journals I am interested in submitting to. This expanded my knowledge of Canadian publishing and contemporary Canadian authors. It also means I know more about where I will be submitting in the future.
5th - I started doing a community reading challenge at the library. The challenge is to read in a year books from A - Z. Wandering around the library looking for books with titles starting with a specific letter drew me to books I would not normally have read.
How do you fan the flames of your love affair with reading?