January 1, 2025 • 39 mins
Ready to escape the everyday stresses and dive headfirst into a world of literary adventures? This week, we're joined by Lynell, the Weekend Reader, who has mastered the art of turning weekends into rejuvenating bookish retreats. Discover how she creates dedicated time for reading, balances her TBR list, and cultivates a vibrant online community around her love for books.
Weekend Reader reads and reviews contemporary fiction, specifically romance but enjoys reading diversely. Additionally, Weekend Reader is committed to supporting indie authors and authors of color in her recommendations. When the Weekend Reader isn't reading or reviewing she's baking.
In this episode, we're discussing:
- Rediscovering the Joy of Reading: Lynell shares her journey back to reading for pleasure and the importance of choosing books that spark joy.
- The Power of Balance: Learn how Lynell balances different genres and reading challenges to keep her reading experience fresh and engaging.
- Creating Intentional Retreats: Discover Lynell's process for planning and executing weekend reading retreats, including setting the ambiance, minimizing distractions, and connecting with fellow readers.
- Prioritizing Self-Care: Explore how dedicated reading time can be a form of self-care and rejuvenation, and how to communicate your needs to loved ones.
- Embracing Your Reading Pace: Let go of pressure and comparison, and embrace your own unique reading rhythm.
Carving out time for intentional reading retreats can be a powerful way to recharge, reconnect with your love of reading, and show up as your best self in all areas of your life. Whether you dedicate a full weekend or just a few hours each week, prioritize creating a space for immersive reading and self-care. Embrace the joy of reading, connect with fellow book lovers, and allow yourself to be transported to new worlds through the power of storytelling.
CONNECT WITH WEEKEND READER:
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Connect with Alesia:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Alesia Galati (00:00):
Are you ready for a weekend reading retreat this
week, we are joined by theweekend reader, who has mastered
the art of turning her weekendsinto bookish retreats. Listener
discretion is advised thispodcast contains mature content
intended for adult audiencesonly. Hello, I'm so excited to
(00:23):
have you on so let's dive rightin. I want to hear all about how
you started your readingjourney. First
Lynell @WeekendReader_ (00:32):
of all, thank you for having me. I'm
really excited to spend thistime chatting with you. So I
have a big family, and I was theyoungest for the longest. So my
siblings were always like thepopular kids. They always had
their friends, and there waslittle old me that they would
have to tag along. And once Ibecame a teenager, they became
(00:54):
teenagers. They were like, No,you have to find your own
friends. That didn't work forme. So reading became like the
stand in until, you know, I hitpuberty, and then I was like, Oh
boys. Yes, I like those. And,you know, it tapered off a
little bit. But I would say,after grad school, I was like,
What am I going to do with mylife? I don't want to be just
(01:18):
about work. And I was like, oh,let's go back to reading. And so
that became something that wasreally important to me to
cultivate in and go back to andthen I stumbled on Book Two. Was
like, wait a minute, there areother people who just put their
thoughts about books out there.
And I was like, I want to dothat. I never started a book to
(01:40):
Channel, Channel, so there'sthat, but that was like the
catalyst for, if I'm going to dothe content creation part that
came out of Book Two. But I wasreading and enjoying the
escapism and some capacity ofreading and so, yeah, this is
how I got here.
Alesia Galati (02:04):
I love that so much. And I think that a lot of
us, those of us on book talk,or, you know, books gram or
things like that, a lot of uscan relate to that experience of
I read a lot when I was little,you know, I got the Pizza Hut,
yeah? Like, I got all thoseReading Rainbow, like, there's a
lot of that that ties into theolder generation that's on these
(02:28):
places, yeah, those of us in our30s and millennials and so I
think that a lot of us canrelate to that of being, like,
maybe striving a lot, especiallyduring our college careers and
like striving to read and thenbeing like, I feel like as an
adult, quote, unquote, and forpeople who can't see me, I'm
(02:49):
doing buddy ears as an adult.
I'm supposed to be reading todevelop myself into this
immaculate human being that noone ever achieves. Like I'm
supposed to be putting in allthis work. And for me
personally, I found myselfstruggling to get through the
books that I thought I shouldread. And then when I was like,
(03:10):
You know what? Screw this. I amdone. Let me go back to what I
was reading when I was like,1819, super horny. Let me go
back to the erotica. Let me goback to the stuff that I
enjoyed. And I blew throughthose books, and I was like, Oh,
that makes sense, cool. And italso was a natural way to help
(03:34):
with my libido after childnumber two, wonderful. A
witness, a win? Yes, exactly. Ithink that a lot of us have
almost rediscovered our love ofreading in this way, after
feeling like, oh, we have toread books a certain way, or we
have to read a certain type ofbook in order to be seen as a
(03:57):
proper person when it's like,just read for fun, guys,
Lynell @WeekendReader_ (04:04):
yeah, and I think it's really
interesting, because for me,like my family, my parents, I
didn't grow up with a lot oftoys. And whenever I say that
out loud, people are like, Oh mygosh, your childhood must have
been hormones. No, it was great,because my parents saw something
that I enjoyed, and theycultivated that for me. And so I
(04:26):
always had, like, workbooks,and, like I said, just books in
general. And one, one story Mymom loves to tell people is for
the Scholastic Book Fair. Oneyear, she was like, Okay, you
could only get one book, and Iwas like, No, I deserve more
books. So I stole some moneyfrom her so I could get more.
(04:48):
And I was just learning how toso I was really on when this
happened. So I was learning howto count, and I miscounted how
much I took, because I was alsoa responsible. Little thief,
because I was like, she's gonnaknow I still so I had to get it
really close. So I had workedout, like, how many books I
(05:08):
could actually come back withbased off of how much money she
gave me. So anyway, I was, like,really being thoughtful about
how I was gonna tell my pick, mymom, how I committed the crime.
Anyway, I got caught, andbecause my teacher saw that, I
miscounted and I couldn'texplain where the extra money
(05:31):
came from. And my mom had a goodrelationship with all of my
teachers, teachers pet, youknow, but I still got all of the
books, even though I stole themoney. But, you know, I got
punished. And yeah, so I wasthat kid, right? Reading was
always a part of just, like, mypersonality, or just a way for
(05:51):
me to, like, feel not alone, Iguess, is the best way to say
it. And so when kids were outdoing wanting, you know, the
newest sneakers, or the newestwhatever I was like, get me the
shootie blooms, the whole boxset, or the Sweet Valley, you
(06:14):
know what? I mean, I was thatkid. And then over time, there
weren't that many kids that as Iwas getting older, I had to make
some adjustments over time. So Igot into dance and, you know,
balancing that out a little bit.
But yeah, I definitely think forme, it's has always been about
balancing just having a bigimagination and then eventually
(06:39):
going to grad school, having toread really dense text. It was a
good thing for me to have a lovefor reading, because I could
just, like, plow throughcomplicated theories and be
like, Oh, I get it. Andeveryone's like, Girl, we're
still on Chapter Two, you know,but I am a big proponent that it
(07:00):
is about finding a genre thatspeaks to your brain and leaning
into that versus what's popular.
Because what I first got intothe bookish space fantasy, was
like the thing, and it still isin a lot of ways, but I tap out
(07:24):
after like 400 pages, and sofantasy didn't always work for
me. Now I'm slowly getting intofantasy, but, yeah, I definitely
think there's a lot of folks whofeel like you only have to read
this, or you only have to or inorder to have engagement, you
have to read these authors, andI just don't think that's the
(07:46):
intention of reading right, likeyou should actually enjoy it.
And anyone who tells you anydifferent, I think you should
not take their advice.
Alesia Galati (07:58):
I like that you said the word balance, because I
try to do this with my own kids,and I think that it's important
that as readers, we do this. AndI would say, when I started out
in like, the books gram space,mine was more like, there were a
lot of white readers, becausethat's what I was getting pushed
on the algorithm and Amazon andall of these places. And I was
like, I had to be reallyintentional about the content I
(08:20):
was seeing following creatorswho had more diverse voices, so
that I could attract those typesof things. And I try to do this
with my kids too, but more genrespecific. And I think that we
can use it in any way of ourreading, but where my oldest is
very much in two comic books,and I'm like, Yes, love that.
Sure we can get all the comicbooks, and you also have to read
(08:44):
a chapter book once a monthright, implementing different
changes, to challenge ourselves,to challenge my kid, to step
outside of our comfort zone,quote, unquote, or the things
that were being fed, to trysomething new. And know we might
get to the end and be like,Yeah, that wasn't for me. And I
kind of feel like that aboutfantasy, right? Like, too many
(09:04):
emotional roller coasters forme. If the main characters die
at the end, I'm gonna be crying.
And I don't need to be doingthat. Just it's too much. And
so, like, cool, I tried it, butnow I know that more, like, high
fantasy is not for me, whereasurban fantasy with like vampires
and werewolves and like themodern age. Yes, totally. For
that. You have to try differentthings and then find the balance
(09:28):
right from there. But right,yeah, that's something that I
definitely try to implement withmy kids. And they the oldest
one. He loves to read. He willgo through so many books,
especially if there's comics orpictures, which is cool. He's
10. That's normal for that age,and he reads at a higher level.
So I want to make sure thatwe're still challenging him and
(09:48):
not just giving him books thatare like too easy, right? But
you're a very interestingapproach to your reading
schedule that I want to jump.
Right into you call yourself theweekend. Yeah, and what does
that mean? And how in the worlddid you get into this habit of
turning your weekends intoreading retreats? Because that's
(10:10):
what it feels like from theoutside looking in.
Lynell @WeekendReader_ (10:12):
Yeah, it was a happy stance. Because I
think my original handle was,like, eclectic reader, and I
lasted, like, maybe a month,because it wasn't eclectic at
all. I was really only readingromance, and so I was like, I I
savor my weekends. That's how Ilike to think about it. My
(10:36):
weekends are my time torecharge. I am very protective
over my weekends. And for me, myweekends start about like four
o'clock on Friday, until, youknow, I have to go back to work
on Monday. My friends and myfamily know, if you want to do
(10:56):
something with me on a weekend,it needs to be pre planned, so
then I can make someadjustments. And I don't like
doing things unless I'm onvacation, right? I don't like to
have activities on both Saturdayand Sunday, because I have a
very people focused for frontfacing type job. And so I am
(11:17):
reading, and I'm teaching peopleor trying to help people learn
things Monday through Friday andso on Saturday and Sunday and
Friday nights, I really justwant to be able to do what I
want to do. I want to read whatI want to read. And weekend
reader was born out of it's areflection of how I see my
(11:39):
weekends. And it is really forreading or just to recharge in
general. And at one point I waslike, Oh, I'll have all of
these, like branches, likeweekend eatings, because I also
like to eat out. And then I waslike, you know, it's, it all
fits under weekend reader. Youhave to eat. You have to, you
(12:02):
know, do spa days. It all fallsunder the one umbrella. And I
think for the most part, atleast in America, people tend to
see weekends as a social time.
And so I really was thinkingabout if I wanted to create a a
platform that was uniquely me.
(12:24):
It would be something specificto the weekends, like I am doing
all of the things that are forme to help recharge on the
weekends, and a lot of us haveto wait until the weekend to do
certain things just for us. Andso that's where it really came
out of. And reading, of course,was like a no brainer,
Alesia Galati (12:45):
yeah, I love that so much. And also the fact that
you're the kind of building upto, all right, I am depleted by
Friday, and now I need torecharge. What are the things
that are going to recharge methe best? And I'm guessing
you're probably an introvertlike I am, time alone, that's
the recharge. It's good. And solike finding ways to do that. I
(13:09):
posted on my business side thatI have like, seven interviews
this week and a workshop thatI'm doing, which is a lot, way
more than I typically do, butwe're gearing up for something,
so I've got a lot of frontfacing things that I have to put
in FaceTime for, and that isreally depleting for me,
(13:29):
especially when there's maybetwo in one day or sometimes
three in one day, like that is alot for me. And so seeing the
days that maybe I have morespace, all right, how can I bake
in time to recharge, reset?
Maybe that looks like anafternoon now, or it looks like
just going on a drive by myselfand going to get some food, like
it could be literally anything,but like finding ways of okay, I
(13:52):
see the week ahead. It's anabnormal week. How can I make
sure I bake that in? But whatyou're doing is something that's
very intentional on a regularbasis to create that space for
yourself, and so I love that somuch. For me, I find my nights
to be my weekend reader moments,just because my kids go to bed
(14:14):
at 730 ish, eight o'clocklatest, and then they're down.
My husband usually wants towatch TV. I'm not trying to
watch TV, so my butt is sittingright next to him with my Kindle
or with a book that is myrecharge, reset time. And so
then for the weekends, the kidswant to do stuff, the husband
(14:36):
wants to do stuff. And so like,How can I find as someone who
maybe doesn't have enoughspaciousness in my current
schedule, right? Like, life willchange as the kids get older and
they are like, don't want to benear you, mom, all of those
things are going to change. Buthow can I create that space now,
when you come up with becauseyou've shared this recently, of
(14:57):
like, Here's how. I plan for myweekend reading retreats. How do
you do that?
Lynell @WeekendReader_ (15:05):
So a couple of things. So I work in
education, and so there are somemonths I know that I won't have
any weekends to myself becausewe are working for PrEP or
things like that. But for themost part, when you know July
and August are, like, the monthswhere I'm like, Please don't ask
me to make any decisions,because my brain just wants to
(15:29):
shut off. But typically what Iwill do on Thursday and for me
it this might sound reallyweird, but for me it's like,
really exciting Thursday nights.
I'm looking at all of the books,whether it's arcs or books that
I said I wanted to read. SoThursday night, I'm like,
thinking about, do I have, like,the brain power to read 10
books? Because that can happenwhere I'm just like, I'm gonna
(15:52):
read through entire series, andsometimes, as No, I just want to
gently read through three bucks.
It's also a way for me to checkin on where I am emotionally,
like if I'm tired or if I have amigraine, which I have chronic
migraines, and so my eyes areusually tired. I take all of
(16:15):
that into consideration if I'min like a, you know, Mafia
romance, I can only read so muchmany of those before. I'm like,
Girl, what is right? There needsto be a balance here. And so
Thursday nights, I startthinking about that. And then
Friday at lunch, I'm just like,usually I have 20 books that I'm
(16:37):
like, looking at and thinkingabout how I can slot them in,
and then I decide, usually, bylike, 435 o'clock ish, I decide,
and then I just plug them into acollage. And, you know,
sometimes it's the esthetics ofit too. I'm like, Oh, does this
(16:57):
all look like too cheesy?
Because that's the other thingabout me. Like, if I read too
many, too many contemporaryromances, they start to feel the
same. And so I had no I have tobalance it out a little bit. So
seeing it visually also helps methink. Like Lynelle, you're not
going to get through all ofthese books, so break it up a
little bit. I'm a big proponenton reading widely within a
(17:18):
genre. And so sometimes I'mlike, I need a little bit of
mystery. So romantic suspense isactually my palate cleanser,
rather than contemporaryromance. So I take all of that
into consideration. And then,for me, I like posting my
weekend TBRs, because then Iusually get some feedback. Oh my
(17:40):
gosh. I really love this book.
So then that tells me maybe Ishould start with that book if
there are a lot of people whoare excited about it, because
then they'll want a check in.
And then it just encourages meto actually read what I said I
would do, because I can't domonthly TBRs. I am fascinated
with people who can do that Icannot. I have to do it a week
(18:03):
by week basis. And then when Ipost, I get all of my snacks for
the weekend, which is also likea little treat for me, because
I'm like in my sweet or salty orsavory, and it just feels like
kind of reinvesting or refocusing in on things that make
me happy and over time, and Ithink I have still fairly a
(18:26):
small community, just the folksthat typically DM me like, oh my
gosh, that's on my TBR. If youlike it, I'm going to read it.
That kind of helps get me, like,motivated, even if I don't want
to read anything that I put out,which is rarely happens. And
then Friday night, when I start,you know, I have my snacks, I
(18:47):
have all my drinks, because Ihave a couple of different
beverages, some alcoholic, somenon alcoholic, a little bit of
coffee. Then I start. And thenit is like, when you finish the
first one, at least for me, Iwant to be able to go back like,
Okay, I read it. I loved it.
(19:09):
Here are the things that I loveabout it. And that typically
happens somewhere Saturdayafternoon. And when you know a
lot of the folks who follow meare like, which one did you
start, or I just started thisbook. Can I DM you about what
I'm experiencing? I'm like,sure, you know, because then it
becomes a little bit more of acommunity. Read, right? And then
(19:32):
Sunday, I report out what Ifinish. And I've, you know,
tried to switch up in terms ofjust posting and doing, yep, I
read it. I found that peopleactually want to hear, like my
initial responses of booksbefore, like the full review.
And I find that to be anotherway for me to make sure that I'm
(19:53):
connecting with people aroundsomething that they're also
excited about.
Alesia Galati (19:58):
I love this so much, and I'm. Curious, are you
a mood reader? Because I know Iam. And same, like, the idea of
someone having a monthly TBR isreally strange to my brain. I
just had not wrapped my headaround, Oh, these are the ones
I'm going to read. And thendoing it, I'll have, like, a
theoretical idea, but likeactually doing it. So do you
(20:21):
feel like you're a mood reader?
And then, if you are, how do youapproach that in a way that's
like, not beating yourself up ifyou do switch it up?
Lynell @WeekendReader_ (20:31):
Yeah, I like to think that I'm a mood
reader. Some some of my friendsare like, you can't be a mood
reader with these weekly TBRs.
You know, mood reader is goingwith the flow. And I'm like, but
my flow is always romance.
That's the vibe, right? We knowit's gonna be romance. So I'm
always orbiting romance in somecapacity. And so for me, yes, I
(20:54):
think I'm a mood reader, becausesometimes I'm like, I want to
read something really deeplyemotional, and their authors
that I know who are going to beable to provide that satisfying
reading experience. But I'vebeen trying really hard this
year to find a lot more new tome authors, so I've been
bouncing around a lot. But yeah,I definitely think I'm a mood
(21:17):
reader, because even if I set myweekly TPR, the type of reader I
am if I read your book, yourvery first book, and I'm like,
five star. Give me all of them,my brain is like, I have to read
every book you've published. Andso that has happened where I've
read something and I've reallyjust loved the character work,
(21:41):
or there were plot points that Idid not see coming or handling a
topic that just felt like reallytender. And so now I'm like, who
cares what's on this weekly?
TBR, I'm gonna just, you know,shift gears and read whatever
else this author has like rightnow. LDS, I read one of her
shorts, and I'm now reading herfirst public book, and it is,
(22:05):
you gotta save her that, becauseshe's hitting on so many
different points. So yeah, inthat way, I definitely think I'm
a mood reader, and there havebeen times where I've set a
weekly TBR and nothing ishitting nothing is working, and
I want to change gears, becauseI don't want to spoil my weekend
(22:25):
because my reading didn't matchmy expectations, right? Because
I always assume a book that Ipick up I'm going to enjoy it,
which I know, for some people,that might sound strange, but I
don't want to read things that Idon't think I'm not going to
enjoy, and so if I'm notenjoying it, I don't unless
there's a reason, I don't pushmyself to finish it. So I'll
(22:50):
switch gears. And I think beinga mood reader, I have so many
books on my TDR, right, that ifsomething isn't working for me,
I'll just go and pick somethingelse.
Alesia Galati (23:02):
Do you find yourself getting distracted? If
you are all right, I've set thegoal. This is how I'm going to
show up this weekend. Do you puton new journal, not disturb? Do
you like hunker down in a way?
Because I know for me, if I'mreading and I had to be really
self aware, to come to this ofbeing like when I read on my
(23:23):
Kindle app on my phone, I getdistracted. One thing will
trigger another thought that islike, squirrel. And then next
thing you know, I've been onInstagram for three hours, and
I'm like, What the heck are youdoing? Or if I'm reading on
paperback, my eyes hurt after acertain amount of time. I just
cannot focus on something thatclose for that long. And even if
(23:43):
maybe it's the color of the pageor just whatever, there's lots
of different avenues and thingsthat that I have issues with it,
with that and then going intoall right, if I read on my
Kindle, then I can go from theblack screen to the lighter
screen. It makes it a lot easieron my eyes. If I'm folding
laundry, then I know I'm goingto be listening to an audiobook.
So two things, how do you notget distracted with your like,
(24:04):
Hey, I'm going to be rechargingthis weekend. How do you set up
boundaries and parameters foryourself, not even like family,
because we talked about that,but like with yourself and your
desire to be distracted? Andthen do you read only one type
of way, whether it's on yourphone or your Kindle or
paperback, or do you switch itup so that you can get through
(24:24):
more books over the weekend?
Lynell @WeekendReader_ (24:28):
Yeah, for me, I maybe two years ago, I
realized I read faster on myKindle, and so I am pretty much
exclusively reading on myKindle. And I Yes, I will have a
Kindle and a paperback versionof the book. I am that type of
reader. I don't have a lot ofdistractions. I read in two hour
(24:52):
chunks. So I read full twohours, no potty breaks or
anything like that. And thenusually I'm. Like, Oh, I need to
put more ice in my drink, or Ineed to get up and pay, or I
just need to change readingpositions. And in that little
bit of a break, I'll, you know,check messages from Instagram or
(25:14):
do something else eat, and thenI'll come back to reading. So I
think overall, I might read fora full eight like when you
combine them all eight hours.
And you know, I try to be reallygentle with myself, because if
my attention goes somewhereelse, I think about it as that's
important, right? Whatever myattention has been drawn to, I
need to do that thing if I endup not finishing a book or end
(25:37):
up talking to a friend in DMSfor a little bit longer than I
had planned to, then that justbecomes the priority at the
time, and then I'll go back toreading. One of the things that
I've been trying really hard,and hopefully I'm doing a better
job communicating that out, isthat I don't feel bad if I don't
finish a book, or I don't wantto feel shame around not
(26:00):
producing when it comes toreading, because this is
something that is supposed to befun and for me, and it's taken a
long time to get here right,because I want to be an
influencer in some ways, I wantto create the content, but I
also want a role model that issupposed to be fun, and if it's
(26:24):
not going to be fun, then whatam I actually doing it? So for
me, if I'm off scrolling onInstagram, my brain needed that
break, right? And it's okay, andI will finish the book. Maybe,
you know, I wanted to read from10 to seven. Maybe I'll read
from 10 to 10 now, because Itook a little bit of break. So
(26:47):
that's where I am. And sometimesI'm like, Okay, girl, you didn't
read at all because you werelike, Kiki with someone. But I
think about that time, spendingthat time with that person. It
was probably I needed it. Theyneeded it. So it's okay, and the
(27:08):
book will be there, you know,it'll get ready eventually. We
talked
Alesia Galati (27:14):
about this a little bit before we press
record. But this idea of like,oh, I have to read 250 books in
a year, or I'm not a reader, orI have to read, you know, a
certain amount of pages in ayear in order to be a reader.
How do you feel about that topicas it relates to reading for
fun? Because clearly, it'ssomething that you're very
(27:35):
passionate about, and I agree100% like, do this for fun. And
how do you approach that? Ifpeople are like, Oh, but like,
how many Rick's books do youread in the year? And are you
trying to that stuff? I'm like,what does that look like?
Lynell @WeekendReader_ (27:49):
Yeah, so I want to say, being in the book
community, it's easy to fall inthat trap of you have to read
100 books, you have to read 200books. And I've definitely
fallen victim to that. I thinkthere are a couple of posts,
older posts, where I'm like,This is how you do it. And I
(28:09):
have gotten to a place where Idon't want to do anything that
feels required when it comes tomy platform, and I don't want to
communicate that to anyone whocomes to my Instagram page like
I don't want anyone to feel thatthey need to read as fast as I
(28:31):
do, the types of books that Ido, or as many books as I do,
because I fall within 100 to 200depending on the year I feel
comfortable in, like the 150 ishrange. So I say all of that, and
I've communicated out. Thereason I can read at the volume
(28:54):
I do is because I'm a singlewoman and I am only responsible
for myself. I make a decentliving, so I don't put myself on
book buying bands. I don't knowwhy people do that, but if it
works for you, do that, but Ican read at the volume that I
read year to year, because Ihave curated my life in order to
(29:19):
accommodate that. And my lifemight look different to someone
who has a family with smallkids, no kids, special needs
kids, or you're taking care ofyour parents or or another
family member, right? That couldlook different to you. And so I
want people to be gentle withthemselves about what they can
(29:41):
do with the time that they dohave. And if you're able to read
an hour or day, then you protectthat time and you do that. So I
am a big proponent of you don'tneed to do anything other than
what you have the capacity andthe ability to do. Do not buy
books that you can. Afford. Donot go to cons that you can't
(30:03):
afford. If anything in this anypage that you're following makes
you feel bad, stop followingthem. Because I don't think it's
the intention of what thecommunity is supposed to
provide, which is a safe spaceor a space for readers to gush
about the books that you enjoy,or maybe even connect on the
(30:24):
books that you don't like,right? Because sometimes that
can bring out some community. SoI'm pretty big on if someone is
telling you have to read 100books to be a reader, do not
listen to them if you read onebook in a year, that is good.
Yeah, that's all you should bestriving for. Yeah, I couldn't
Alesia Galati (30:47):
agree more. And I would say this too, that if the
content that you're absorbing,whether that's through podcasts
or YouTube videos, Instagram,Tiktok, Facebook, it does not
matter if that content is makingyou feel negatively about
yourself and how you are able toshow up in the world with your
(31:09):
current capacity, unfollow thepeople who make you feel less
than even if it's me like 100%Please protect yourself, Protect
your own sanity and do what'sbest for you. I would never want
someone to follow us and say,Hey, I feel less than because of
this thing you posted like thatwould make me feel terrible. So
(31:31):
please just do what's gonna workbest for you. I think that it's
such an important part of beinga content creator and having
this space and like thisprivilege of having people's
ears, is that we're not doingthem a disservice by shooting
all over them, as my one of myfriends, says, you know, we
(31:52):
don't need to do all that. Soyou also mentioned previously
that July and August are reallylow reading times for you
because you are doing so muchwith your job. And it's the
seasonalities of life that Ithink that we sometimes can beat
ourselves up about of like, oh,well, in this month I read this
amount of books, but then inthis month I read barely
(32:12):
anything, and it's like, giveyourself some grace. Life is
gonna happen. Life be life init's okay if you want to reset
your goals, that's cool, too. Ifound myself halfway through the
year rescheduling andreassessing everything for my
reading goal, for how many booksI wanted to read in the year, my
(32:34):
listening goal, because I foundthat I was listening to way more
audiobooks than I had in anyprevious years, I had to
reassess my stuff and say thesegoals are no longer working for
me. Deep breath, that's okay.
Now let's reassess it and seewhat we need to do to change or
change. Okay. I'm not gonna readas many pages this year as maybe
(32:55):
I have in previously years, butmy hours are through the roof.
There's nothing wrong witheither of those. So if someone
is, you know, trying to figureout, all right, I love this
idea, and I've never thought ofit before as like, Oh, I could
create an evening of reenergizing myself with a book,
or with this, you know, a couplehours of reading. Or maybe I do
(33:17):
want to become a weekend reader,instead of just waiting for the
next all Weekender with mygirlfriends, where we go read
books, because we see that kindof extreme, and then the people
who are like just bangingthrough a bunch of books and
like a lot of comparison. So ifsomeone's like, I want to try to
start this. I'm not really surewhere to start. Where do you
(33:38):
recommend that they startlooking at their lives.
Lynell @WeekendReader_ (33:42):
Yeah. So for me, I also have to do a lot
of data analysis with my job,and a lot of that translates
into how I run my platform. SoI'm always collecting
information about how many booksI'm reading in the month, so I
know how many days on average Iread in a month, I know which
(34:04):
months I will dip down. 10 seemsto be about the average. And so
I'm collecting all of thatinformation to make some
informed decisions again, so Idon't feel guilty if this is a
little bit lower. One of thethings I have not been able to
figure out is my audiobooklistening. That is something
that I want to try to figure outa little bit more. But to answer
(34:26):
your question specifically youhave to do or what has been
helpful for me has been to takean inventory of how I'm spending
my time normally, right? BecauseI think a lot of times people in
any bookish spaces is they talkabout reading as an add on,
(34:47):
versus I take the approach is,it's integrated, right? So I
would think about it as, whatare you doing right now, and
where are you current? Slottingin your reading time. So is
there a day that you feel thatyou read more? Can you give
(35:07):
yourself a little bit more of achunk of time to read then,
because some people might notwork a day in the middle of the
week, so that might actually beyour weekend reading time,
right? So your weekend is reallya Wednesday versus my Saturday,
Sunday, and then thinking aboutwhat responsibilities to you
(35:28):
have in the month or in thatweek, and if there are slots of
time that you can say, family,pump the brakes. This is me time
and not feel guilty becauseyou're not still showing up for
the people who love you, right?
Because that's the other thing.
Yes, my family knows that's, youknow, the weekends are mine, but
(35:48):
if they need me, my phone isn'ton, do not disturb, right? I'll,
you know, be available. And so Ithink it's about being really
sure about is reading the righthobby for you, and if it is,
where are you naturallygravitating towards in terms of
putting in the time to read? Afew months ago, I did a blog
(36:14):
post about it, and the folkswere sharing like their time is
like from two o'clock to fiveo'clock in the morning I am I
can't think that time right? Sothey've been able to figure out
what time is a quiet time forthem to be really intentional
about their reading, and so itmight look different. And I
(36:35):
would encourage people to figureout, like, where that is for
you, and kind of make sure thatyou're protecting that and
reaffirming and reminding peopleno this day or these days are
for me to do these things,because that means I'll be able
to show up a little better foryou, more present for you. And I
think people want to honor thatwhen they realize that this is
(36:58):
helpful for you, because all ofus have stressful lives, and
we're all trying to find waysto, you know, not disassociate,
right, but to ways to feel wholeagain. And for a lot of us,
that's with readings. I think ifyou're able to communicate that
to people who love you, they'llwant to support you too. And
(37:19):
what works for me, might notwork for you, but taking the
time to be intentional aboutfiguring out where do you feel
the most present to be able toread that is your time, and you
use that time to read?
Alesia Galati (37:35):
Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I personally have to
communicate quite often with myhusband, of like, here's the
plan, and then we reassessduring football season, and I
know I'm gonna have lots of timeto read because football's on
the TV, and my husband'sdistracted with that, and he
doesn't need as much, maybequality time, or want as much
(37:55):
quality time during that season.
And so I know I have that space.
And then we've also said, Okay,how can we create one night a
week phones down quality time,whether that looks like a movie
where we're really focusing andintentional, game night, date
night in right? There's so manydifferent things that we can do
(38:15):
during that time to reconnect.
And that's one night a weekthat's really intentional, and
then we reassess, as we need to,if maybe that night doesn't work
anymore, we find ourselvescanceling it. I think there are
so many ways, if we justcommunicate with the people that
we love, set those boundariesand then have space to not beat
ourselves up and reassess if weneed to. Lynelle, this has been
(38:37):
so much fun. Thank you so muchfor being on and talking through
your process. Where can peoplefind you? Get to know you, hang
out
Lynell @WeekendReader_ (38:47):
with you again. Thank you for having me.
This has definitely been a lotof fun. I love doing podcasts
because then I get all of thesereally great questions. I'm
like, Oh, I didn't think aboutit that way. But folks can find
me on Instagram and threads atweekend reader underscore, and
then my blog is weekend slashreader.blogspot.com, and those
(39:12):
are the main places for folks tofind me. And we'll
Alesia Galati (39:15):
make sure that we have those linked in the show
notes for anyone driving ordoing other things while they're
listening or watching. Thank youso much. Lynelle,
Unknown (39:23):
thank you. You.
Are you ready for a weekend reading retreat this
week, we are joined by theweekend reader, who has mastered
the art of turning her weekendsinto bookish retreats. Listener
discretion is advised thispodcast contains mature content
intended for adult audiencesonly. Hello, I'm so excited to
(00:23):
have you on so let's dive rightin. I want to hear all about how
you started your readingjourney. First
Lynell @WeekendReader_ (00:32):
of all, thank you for having me. I'm
really excited to spend thistime chatting with you. So I
have a big family, and I was theyoungest for the longest. So my
siblings were always like thepopular kids. They always had
their friends, and there waslittle old me that they would
have to tag along. And once Ibecame a teenager, they became
(00:54):
teenagers. They were like, No,you have to find your own
friends. That didn't work forme. So reading became like the
stand in until, you know, I hitpuberty, and then I was like, Oh
boys. Yes, I like those. And,you know, it tapered off a
little bit. But I would say,after grad school, I was like,
What am I going to do with mylife? I don't want to be just
(01:18):
about work. And I was like, oh,let's go back to reading. And so
that became something that wasreally important to me to
cultivate in and go back to andthen I stumbled on Book Two. Was
like, wait a minute, there areother people who just put their
thoughts about books out there.
And I was like, I want to dothat. I never started a book to
(01:40):
Channel, Channel, so there'sthat, but that was like the
catalyst for, if I'm going to dothe content creation part that
came out of Book Two. But I wasreading and enjoying the
escapism and some capacity ofreading and so, yeah, this is
how I got here.
Alesia Galati (02:04):
I love that so much. And I think that a lot of
us, those of us on book talk,or, you know, books gram or
things like that, a lot of uscan relate to that experience of
I read a lot when I was little,you know, I got the Pizza Hut,
yeah? Like, I got all thoseReading Rainbow, like, there's a
lot of that that ties into theolder generation that's on these
(02:28):
places, yeah, those of us in our30s and millennials and so I
think that a lot of us canrelate to that of being, like,
maybe striving a lot, especiallyduring our college careers and
like striving to read and thenbeing like, I feel like as an
adult, quote, unquote, and forpeople who can't see me, I'm
(02:49):
doing buddy ears as an adult.
I'm supposed to be reading todevelop myself into this
immaculate human being that noone ever achieves. Like I'm
supposed to be putting in allthis work. And for me
personally, I found myselfstruggling to get through the
books that I thought I shouldread. And then when I was like,
(03:10):
You know what? Screw this. I amdone. Let me go back to what I
was reading when I was like,1819, super horny. Let me go
back to the erotica. Let me goback to the stuff that I
enjoyed. And I blew throughthose books, and I was like, Oh,
that makes sense, cool. And italso was a natural way to help
(03:34):
with my libido after childnumber two, wonderful. A
witness, a win? Yes, exactly. Ithink that a lot of us have
almost rediscovered our love ofreading in this way, after
feeling like, oh, we have toread books a certain way, or we
have to read a certain type ofbook in order to be seen as a
(03:57):
proper person when it's like,just read for fun, guys,
Lynell @WeekendReader_ (04:04):
yeah, and I think it's really
interesting, because for me,like my family, my parents, I
didn't grow up with a lot oftoys. And whenever I say that
out loud, people are like, Oh mygosh, your childhood must have
been hormones. No, it was great,because my parents saw something
that I enjoyed, and theycultivated that for me. And so I
(04:26):
always had, like, workbooks,and, like I said, just books in
general. And one, one story Mymom loves to tell people is for
the Scholastic Book Fair. Oneyear, she was like, Okay, you
could only get one book, and Iwas like, No, I deserve more
books. So I stole some moneyfrom her so I could get more.
(04:48):
And I was just learning how toso I was really on when this
happened. So I was learning howto count, and I miscounted how
much I took, because I was alsoa responsible. Little thief,
because I was like, she's gonnaknow I still so I had to get it
really close. So I had workedout, like, how many books I
(05:08):
could actually come back withbased off of how much money she
gave me. So anyway, I was, like,really being thoughtful about
how I was gonna tell my pick, mymom, how I committed the crime.
Anyway, I got caught, andbecause my teacher saw that, I
miscounted and I couldn'texplain where the extra money
(05:31):
came from. And my mom had a goodrelationship with all of my
teachers, teachers pet, youknow, but I still got all of the
books, even though I stole themoney. But, you know, I got
punished. And yeah, so I wasthat kid, right? Reading was
always a part of just, like, mypersonality, or just a way for
(05:51):
me to, like, feel not alone, Iguess, is the best way to say
it. And so when kids were outdoing wanting, you know, the
newest sneakers, or the newestwhatever I was like, get me the
shootie blooms, the whole boxset, or the Sweet Valley, you
(06:14):
know what? I mean, I was thatkid. And then over time, there
weren't that many kids that as Iwas getting older, I had to make
some adjustments over time. So Igot into dance and, you know,
balancing that out a little bit.
But yeah, I definitely think forme, it's has always been about
balancing just having a bigimagination and then eventually
(06:39):
going to grad school, having toread really dense text. It was a
good thing for me to have a lovefor reading, because I could
just, like, plow throughcomplicated theories and be
like, Oh, I get it. Andeveryone's like, Girl, we're
still on Chapter Two, you know,but I am a big proponent that it
(07:00):
is about finding a genre thatspeaks to your brain and leaning
into that versus what's popular.
Because what I first got intothe bookish space fantasy, was
like the thing, and it still isin a lot of ways, but I tap out
(07:24):
after like 400 pages, and sofantasy didn't always work for
me. Now I'm slowly getting intofantasy, but, yeah, I definitely
think there's a lot of folks whofeel like you only have to read
this, or you only have to or inorder to have engagement, you
have to read these authors, andI just don't think that's the
(07:46):
intention of reading right, likeyou should actually enjoy it.
And anyone who tells you anydifferent, I think you should
not take their advice.
Alesia Galati (07:58):
I like that you said the word balance, because I
try to do this with my own kids,and I think that it's important
that as readers, we do this. AndI would say, when I started out
in like, the books gram space,mine was more like, there were a
lot of white readers, becausethat's what I was getting pushed
on the algorithm and Amazon andall of these places. And I was
like, I had to be reallyintentional about the content I
(08:20):
was seeing following creatorswho had more diverse voices, so
that I could attract those typesof things. And I try to do this
with my kids too, but more genrespecific. And I think that we
can use it in any way of ourreading, but where my oldest is
very much in two comic books,and I'm like, Yes, love that.
Sure we can get all the comicbooks, and you also have to read
(08:44):
a chapter book once a monthright, implementing different
changes, to challenge ourselves,to challenge my kid, to step
outside of our comfort zone,quote, unquote, or the things
that were being fed, to trysomething new. And know we might
get to the end and be like,Yeah, that wasn't for me. And I
kind of feel like that aboutfantasy, right? Like, too many
(09:04):
emotional roller coasters forme. If the main characters die
at the end, I'm gonna be crying.
And I don't need to be doingthat. Just it's too much. And
so, like, cool, I tried it, butnow I know that more, like, high
fantasy is not for me, whereasurban fantasy with like vampires
and werewolves and like themodern age. Yes, totally. For
that. You have to try differentthings and then find the balance
(09:28):
right from there. But right,yeah, that's something that I
definitely try to implement withmy kids. And they the oldest
one. He loves to read. He willgo through so many books,
especially if there's comics orpictures, which is cool. He's
10. That's normal for that age,and he reads at a higher level.
So I want to make sure thatwe're still challenging him and
(09:48):
not just giving him books thatare like too easy, right? But
you're a very interestingapproach to your reading
schedule that I want to jump.
Right into you call yourself theweekend. Yeah, and what does
that mean? And how in the worlddid you get into this habit of
turning your weekends intoreading retreats? Because that's
(10:10):
what it feels like from theoutside looking in.
Lynell @WeekendReader_ (10:12):
Yeah, it was a happy stance. Because I
think my original handle was,like, eclectic reader, and I
lasted, like, maybe a month,because it wasn't eclectic at
all. I was really only readingromance, and so I was like, I I
savor my weekends. That's how Ilike to think about it. My
(10:36):
weekends are my time torecharge. I am very protective
over my weekends. And for me, myweekends start about like four
o'clock on Friday, until, youknow, I have to go back to work
on Monday. My friends and myfamily know, if you want to do
(10:56):
something with me on a weekend,it needs to be pre planned, so
then I can make someadjustments. And I don't like
doing things unless I'm onvacation, right? I don't like to
have activities on both Saturdayand Sunday, because I have a
very people focused for frontfacing type job. And so I am
(11:17):
reading, and I'm teaching peopleor trying to help people learn
things Monday through Friday andso on Saturday and Sunday and
Friday nights, I really justwant to be able to do what I
want to do. I want to read whatI want to read. And weekend
reader was born out of it's areflection of how I see my
(11:39):
weekends. And it is really forreading or just to recharge in
general. And at one point I waslike, Oh, I'll have all of
these, like branches, likeweekend eatings, because I also
like to eat out. And then I waslike, you know, it's, it all
fits under weekend reader. Youhave to eat. You have to, you
(12:02):
know, do spa days. It all fallsunder the one umbrella. And I
think for the most part, atleast in America, people tend to
see weekends as a social time.
And so I really was thinkingabout if I wanted to create a a
platform that was uniquely me.
(12:24):
It would be something specificto the weekends, like I am doing
all of the things that are forme to help recharge on the
weekends, and a lot of us haveto wait until the weekend to do
certain things just for us. Andso that's where it really came
out of. And reading, of course,was like a no brainer,
Alesia Galati (12:45):
yeah, I love that so much. And also the fact that
you're the kind of building upto, all right, I am depleted by
Friday, and now I need torecharge. What are the things
that are going to recharge methe best? And I'm guessing
you're probably an introvertlike I am, time alone, that's
the recharge. It's good. And solike finding ways to do that. I
(13:09):
posted on my business side thatI have like, seven interviews
this week and a workshop thatI'm doing, which is a lot, way
more than I typically do, butwe're gearing up for something,
so I've got a lot of frontfacing things that I have to put
in FaceTime for, and that isreally depleting for me,
(13:29):
especially when there's maybetwo in one day or sometimes
three in one day, like that is alot for me. And so seeing the
days that maybe I have morespace, all right, how can I bake
in time to recharge, reset?
Maybe that looks like anafternoon now, or it looks like
just going on a drive by myselfand going to get some food, like
it could be literally anything,but like finding ways of okay, I
(13:52):
see the week ahead. It's anabnormal week. How can I make
sure I bake that in? But whatyou're doing is something that's
very intentional on a regularbasis to create that space for
yourself, and so I love that somuch. For me, I find my nights
to be my weekend reader moments,just because my kids go to bed
(14:14):
at 730 ish, eight o'clocklatest, and then they're down.
My husband usually wants towatch TV. I'm not trying to
watch TV, so my butt is sittingright next to him with my Kindle
or with a book that is myrecharge, reset time. And so
then for the weekends, the kidswant to do stuff, the husband
(14:36):
wants to do stuff. And so like,How can I find as someone who
maybe doesn't have enoughspaciousness in my current
schedule, right? Like, life willchange as the kids get older and
they are like, don't want to benear you, mom, all of those
things are going to change. Buthow can I create that space now,
when you come up with becauseyou've shared this recently, of
(14:57):
like, Here's how. I plan for myweekend reading retreats. How do
you do that?
Lynell @WeekendReader_ (15:05):
So a couple of things. So I work in
education, and so there are somemonths I know that I won't have
any weekends to myself becausewe are working for PrEP or
things like that. But for themost part, when you know July
and August are, like, the monthswhere I'm like, Please don't ask
me to make any decisions,because my brain just wants to
(15:29):
shut off. But typically what Iwill do on Thursday and for me
it this might sound reallyweird, but for me it's like,
really exciting Thursday nights.
I'm looking at all of the books,whether it's arcs or books that
I said I wanted to read. SoThursday night, I'm like,
thinking about, do I have, like,the brain power to read 10
books? Because that can happenwhere I'm just like, I'm gonna
(15:52):
read through entire series, andsometimes, as No, I just want to
gently read through three bucks.
It's also a way for me to checkin on where I am emotionally,
like if I'm tired or if I have amigraine, which I have chronic
migraines, and so my eyes areusually tired. I take all of
(16:15):
that into consideration if I'min like a, you know, Mafia
romance, I can only read so muchmany of those before. I'm like,
Girl, what is right? There needsto be a balance here. And so
Thursday nights, I startthinking about that. And then
Friday at lunch, I'm just like,usually I have 20 books that I'm
(16:37):
like, looking at and thinkingabout how I can slot them in,
and then I decide, usually, bylike, 435 o'clock ish, I decide,
and then I just plug them into acollage. And, you know,
sometimes it's the esthetics ofit too. I'm like, Oh, does this
(16:57):
all look like too cheesy?
Because that's the other thingabout me. Like, if I read too
many, too many contemporaryromances, they start to feel the
same. And so I had no I have tobalance it out a little bit. So
seeing it visually also helps methink. Like Lynelle, you're not
going to get through all ofthese books, so break it up a
little bit. I'm a big proponenton reading widely within a
(17:18):
genre. And so sometimes I'mlike, I need a little bit of
mystery. So romantic suspense isactually my palate cleanser,
rather than contemporaryromance. So I take all of that
into consideration. And then,for me, I like posting my
weekend TBRs, because then Iusually get some feedback. Oh my
(17:40):
gosh. I really love this book.
So then that tells me maybe Ishould start with that book if
there are a lot of people whoare excited about it, because
then they'll want a check in.
And then it just encourages meto actually read what I said I
would do, because I can't domonthly TBRs. I am fascinated
with people who can do that Icannot. I have to do it a week
(18:03):
by week basis. And then when Ipost, I get all of my snacks for
the weekend, which is also likea little treat for me, because
I'm like in my sweet or salty orsavory, and it just feels like
kind of reinvesting or refocusing in on things that make
me happy and over time, and Ithink I have still fairly a
(18:26):
small community, just the folksthat typically DM me like, oh my
gosh, that's on my TBR. If youlike it, I'm going to read it.
That kind of helps get me, like,motivated, even if I don't want
to read anything that I put out,which is rarely happens. And
then Friday night, when I start,you know, I have my snacks, I
(18:47):
have all my drinks, because Ihave a couple of different
beverages, some alcoholic, somenon alcoholic, a little bit of
coffee. Then I start. And thenit is like, when you finish the
first one, at least for me, Iwant to be able to go back like,
Okay, I read it. I loved it.
(19:09):
Here are the things that I loveabout it. And that typically
happens somewhere Saturdayafternoon. And when you know a
lot of the folks who follow meare like, which one did you
start, or I just started thisbook. Can I DM you about what
I'm experiencing? I'm like,sure, you know, because then it
becomes a little bit more of acommunity. Read, right? And then
(19:32):
Sunday, I report out what Ifinish. And I've, you know,
tried to switch up in terms ofjust posting and doing, yep, I
read it. I found that peopleactually want to hear, like my
initial responses of booksbefore, like the full review.
And I find that to be anotherway for me to make sure that I'm
(19:53):
connecting with people aroundsomething that they're also
excited about.
Alesia Galati (19:58):
I love this so much, and I'm. Curious, are you
a mood reader? Because I know Iam. And same, like, the idea of
someone having a monthly TBR isreally strange to my brain. I
just had not wrapped my headaround, Oh, these are the ones
I'm going to read. And thendoing it, I'll have, like, a
theoretical idea, but likeactually doing it. So do you
(20:21):
feel like you're a mood reader?
And then, if you are, how do youapproach that in a way that's
like, not beating yourself up ifyou do switch it up?
Lynell @WeekendReader_ (20:31):
Yeah, I like to think that I'm a mood
reader. Some some of my friendsare like, you can't be a mood
reader with these weekly TBRs.
You know, mood reader is goingwith the flow. And I'm like, but
my flow is always romance.
That's the vibe, right? We knowit's gonna be romance. So I'm
always orbiting romance in somecapacity. And so for me, yes, I
(20:54):
think I'm a mood reader, becausesometimes I'm like, I want to
read something really deeplyemotional, and their authors
that I know who are going to beable to provide that satisfying
reading experience. But I'vebeen trying really hard this
year to find a lot more new tome authors, so I've been
bouncing around a lot. But yeah,I definitely think I'm a mood
(21:17):
reader, because even if I set myweekly TPR, the type of reader I
am if I read your book, yourvery first book, and I'm like,
five star. Give me all of them,my brain is like, I have to read
every book you've published. Andso that has happened where I've
read something and I've reallyjust loved the character work,
(21:41):
or there were plot points that Idid not see coming or handling a
topic that just felt like reallytender. And so now I'm like, who
cares what's on this weekly?
TBR, I'm gonna just, you know,shift gears and read whatever
else this author has like rightnow. LDS, I read one of her
shorts, and I'm now reading herfirst public book, and it is,
(22:05):
you gotta save her that, becauseshe's hitting on so many
different points. So yeah, inthat way, I definitely think I'm
a mood reader, and there havebeen times where I've set a
weekly TBR and nothing ishitting nothing is working, and
I want to change gears, becauseI don't want to spoil my weekend
(22:25):
because my reading didn't matchmy expectations, right? Because
I always assume a book that Ipick up I'm going to enjoy it,
which I know, for some people,that might sound strange, but I
don't want to read things that Idon't think I'm not going to
enjoy, and so if I'm notenjoying it, I don't unless
there's a reason, I don't pushmyself to finish it. So I'll
(22:50):
switch gears. And I think beinga mood reader, I have so many
books on my TDR, right, that ifsomething isn't working for me,
I'll just go and pick somethingelse.
Alesia Galati (23:02):
Do you find yourself getting distracted? If
you are all right, I've set thegoal. This is how I'm going to
show up this weekend. Do you puton new journal, not disturb? Do
you like hunker down in a way?
Because I know for me, if I'mreading and I had to be really
self aware, to come to this ofbeing like when I read on my
(23:23):
Kindle app on my phone, I getdistracted. One thing will
trigger another thought that islike, squirrel. And then next
thing you know, I've been onInstagram for three hours, and
I'm like, What the heck are youdoing? Or if I'm reading on
paperback, my eyes hurt after acertain amount of time. I just
cannot focus on something thatclose for that long. And even if
(23:43):
maybe it's the color of the pageor just whatever, there's lots
of different avenues and thingsthat that I have issues with it,
with that and then going intoall right, if I read on my
Kindle, then I can go from theblack screen to the lighter
screen. It makes it a lot easieron my eyes. If I'm folding
laundry, then I know I'm goingto be listening to an audiobook.
So two things, how do you notget distracted with your like,
(24:04):
Hey, I'm going to be rechargingthis weekend. How do you set up
boundaries and parameters foryourself, not even like family,
because we talked about that,but like with yourself and your
desire to be distracted? Andthen do you read only one type
of way, whether it's on yourphone or your Kindle or
paperback, or do you switch itup so that you can get through
(24:24):
more books over the weekend?
Lynell @WeekendReader_ (24:28):
Yeah, for me, I maybe two years ago, I
realized I read faster on myKindle, and so I am pretty much
exclusively reading on myKindle. And I Yes, I will have a
Kindle and a paperback versionof the book. I am that type of
reader. I don't have a lot ofdistractions. I read in two hour
(24:52):
chunks. So I read full twohours, no potty breaks or
anything like that. And thenusually I'm. Like, Oh, I need to
put more ice in my drink, or Ineed to get up and pay, or I
just need to change readingpositions. And in that little
bit of a break, I'll, you know,check messages from Instagram or
(25:14):
do something else eat, and thenI'll come back to reading. So I
think overall, I might read fora full eight like when you
combine them all eight hours.
And you know, I try to be reallygentle with myself, because if
my attention goes somewhereelse, I think about it as that's
important, right? Whatever myattention has been drawn to, I
need to do that thing if I endup not finishing a book or end
(25:37):
up talking to a friend in DMSfor a little bit longer than I
had planned to, then that justbecomes the priority at the
time, and then I'll go back toreading. One of the things that
I've been trying really hard,and hopefully I'm doing a better
job communicating that out, isthat I don't feel bad if I don't
finish a book, or I don't wantto feel shame around not
(26:00):
producing when it comes toreading, because this is
something that is supposed to befun and for me, and it's taken a
long time to get here right,because I want to be an
influencer in some ways, I wantto create the content, but I
also want a role model that issupposed to be fun, and if it's
(26:24):
not going to be fun, then whatam I actually doing it? So for
me, if I'm off scrolling onInstagram, my brain needed that
break, right? And it's okay, andI will finish the book. Maybe,
you know, I wanted to read from10 to seven. Maybe I'll read
from 10 to 10 now, because Itook a little bit of break. So
(26:47):
that's where I am. And sometimesI'm like, Okay, girl, you didn't
read at all because you werelike, Kiki with someone. But I
think about that time, spendingthat time with that person. It
was probably I needed it. Theyneeded it. So it's okay, and the
(27:08):
book will be there, you know,it'll get ready eventually. We
talked
Alesia Galati (27:14):
about this a little bit before we press
record. But this idea of like,oh, I have to read 250 books in
a year, or I'm not a reader, orI have to read, you know, a
certain amount of pages in ayear in order to be a reader.
How do you feel about that topicas it relates to reading for
fun? Because clearly, it'ssomething that you're very
(27:35):
passionate about, and I agree100% like, do this for fun. And
how do you approach that? Ifpeople are like, Oh, but like,
how many Rick's books do youread in the year? And are you
trying to that stuff? I'm like,what does that look like?
Lynell @WeekendReader_ (27:49):
Yeah, so I want to say, being in the book
community, it's easy to fall inthat trap of you have to read
100 books, you have to read 200books. And I've definitely
fallen victim to that. I thinkthere are a couple of posts,
older posts, where I'm like,This is how you do it. And I
(28:09):
have gotten to a place where Idon't want to do anything that
feels required when it comes tomy platform, and I don't want to
communicate that to anyone whocomes to my Instagram page like
I don't want anyone to feel thatthey need to read as fast as I
(28:31):
do, the types of books that Ido, or as many books as I do,
because I fall within 100 to 200depending on the year I feel
comfortable in, like the 150 ishrange. So I say all of that, and
I've communicated out. Thereason I can read at the volume
(28:54):
I do is because I'm a singlewoman and I am only responsible
for myself. I make a decentliving, so I don't put myself on
book buying bands. I don't knowwhy people do that, but if it
works for you, do that, but Ican read at the volume that I
read year to year, because Ihave curated my life in order to
(29:19):
accommodate that. And my lifemight look different to someone
who has a family with smallkids, no kids, special needs
kids, or you're taking care ofyour parents or or another
family member, right? That couldlook different to you. And so I
want people to be gentle withthemselves about what they can
(29:41):
do with the time that they dohave. And if you're able to read
an hour or day, then you protectthat time and you do that. So I
am a big proponent of you don'tneed to do anything other than
what you have the capacity andthe ability to do. Do not buy
books that you can. Afford. Donot go to cons that you can't
(30:03):
afford. If anything in this anypage that you're following makes
you feel bad, stop followingthem. Because I don't think it's
the intention of what thecommunity is supposed to
provide, which is a safe spaceor a space for readers to gush
about the books that you enjoy,or maybe even connect on the
(30:24):
books that you don't like,right? Because sometimes that
can bring out some community. SoI'm pretty big on if someone is
telling you have to read 100books to be a reader, do not
listen to them if you read onebook in a year, that is good.
Yeah, that's all you should bestriving for. Yeah, I couldn't
Alesia Galati (30:47):
agree more. And I would say this too, that if the
content that you're absorbing,whether that's through podcasts
or YouTube videos, Instagram,Tiktok, Facebook, it does not
matter if that content is makingyou feel negatively about
yourself and how you are able toshow up in the world with your
(31:09):
current capacity, unfollow thepeople who make you feel less
than even if it's me like 100%Please protect yourself, Protect
your own sanity and do what'sbest for you. I would never want
someone to follow us and say,Hey, I feel less than because of
this thing you posted like thatwould make me feel terrible. So
(31:31):
please just do what's gonna workbest for you. I think that it's
such an important part of beinga content creator and having
this space and like thisprivilege of having people's
ears, is that we're not doingthem a disservice by shooting
all over them, as my one of myfriends, says, you know, we
(31:52):
don't need to do all that. Soyou also mentioned previously
that July and August are reallylow reading times for you
because you are doing so muchwith your job. And it's the
seasonalities of life that Ithink that we sometimes can beat
ourselves up about of like, oh,well, in this month I read this
amount of books, but then inthis month I read barely
(32:12):
anything, and it's like, giveyourself some grace. Life is
gonna happen. Life be life init's okay if you want to reset
your goals, that's cool, too. Ifound myself halfway through the
year rescheduling andreassessing everything for my
reading goal, for how many booksI wanted to read in the year, my
(32:34):
listening goal, because I foundthat I was listening to way more
audiobooks than I had in anyprevious years, I had to
reassess my stuff and say thesegoals are no longer working for
me. Deep breath, that's okay.
Now let's reassess it and seewhat we need to do to change or
change. Okay. I'm not gonna readas many pages this year as maybe
(32:55):
I have in previously years, butmy hours are through the roof.
There's nothing wrong witheither of those. So if someone
is, you know, trying to figureout, all right, I love this
idea, and I've never thought ofit before as like, Oh, I could
create an evening of reenergizing myself with a book,
or with this, you know, a couplehours of reading. Or maybe I do
(33:17):
want to become a weekend reader,instead of just waiting for the
next all Weekender with mygirlfriends, where we go read
books, because we see that kindof extreme, and then the people
who are like just bangingthrough a bunch of books and
like a lot of comparison. So ifsomeone's like, I want to try to
start this. I'm not really surewhere to start. Where do you
(33:38):
recommend that they startlooking at their lives.
Lynell @WeekendReader_ (33:42):
Yeah. So for me, I also have to do a lot
of data analysis with my job,and a lot of that translates
into how I run my platform. SoI'm always collecting
information about how many booksI'm reading in the month, so I
know how many days on average Iread in a month, I know which
(34:04):
months I will dip down. 10 seemsto be about the average. And so
I'm collecting all of thatinformation to make some
informed decisions again, so Idon't feel guilty if this is a
little bit lower. One of thethings I have not been able to
figure out is my audiobooklistening. That is something
that I want to try to figure outa little bit more. But to answer
(34:26):
your question specifically youhave to do or what has been
helpful for me has been to takean inventory of how I'm spending
my time normally, right? BecauseI think a lot of times people in
any bookish spaces is they talkabout reading as an add on,
(34:47):
versus I take the approach is,it's integrated, right? So I
would think about it as, whatare you doing right now, and
where are you current? Slottingin your reading time. So is
there a day that you feel thatyou read more? Can you give
(35:07):
yourself a little bit more of achunk of time to read then,
because some people might notwork a day in the middle of the
week, so that might actually beyour weekend reading time,
right? So your weekend is reallya Wednesday versus my Saturday,
Sunday, and then thinking aboutwhat responsibilities to you
(35:28):
have in the month or in thatweek, and if there are slots of
time that you can say, family,pump the brakes. This is me time
and not feel guilty becauseyou're not still showing up for
the people who love you, right?
Because that's the other thing.
Yes, my family knows that's, youknow, the weekends are mine, but
(35:48):
if they need me, my phone isn'ton, do not disturb, right? I'll,
you know, be available. And so Ithink it's about being really
sure about is reading the righthobby for you, and if it is,
where are you naturallygravitating towards in terms of
putting in the time to read? Afew months ago, I did a blog
(36:14):
post about it, and the folkswere sharing like their time is
like from two o'clock to fiveo'clock in the morning I am I
can't think that time right? Sothey've been able to figure out
what time is a quiet time forthem to be really intentional
about their reading, and so itmight look different. And I
(36:35):
would encourage people to figureout, like, where that is for
you, and kind of make sure thatyou're protecting that and
reaffirming and reminding peopleno this day or these days are
for me to do these things,because that means I'll be able
to show up a little better foryou, more present for you. And I
think people want to honor thatwhen they realize that this is
(36:58):
helpful for you, because all ofus have stressful lives, and
we're all trying to find waysto, you know, not disassociate,
right, but to ways to feel wholeagain. And for a lot of us,
that's with readings. I think ifyou're able to communicate that
to people who love you, they'llwant to support you too. And
(37:19):
what works for me, might notwork for you, but taking the
time to be intentional aboutfiguring out where do you feel
the most present to be able toread that is your time, and you
use that time to read?
Alesia Galati (37:35):
Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I personally have to
communicate quite often with myhusband, of like, here's the
plan, and then we reassessduring football season, and I
know I'm gonna have lots of timeto read because football's on
the TV, and my husband'sdistracted with that, and he
doesn't need as much, maybequality time, or want as much
(37:55):
quality time during that season.
And so I know I have that space.
And then we've also said, Okay,how can we create one night a
week phones down quality time,whether that looks like a movie
where we're really focusing andintentional, game night, date
night in right? There's so manydifferent things that we can do
(38:15):
during that time to reconnect.
And that's one night a weekthat's really intentional, and
then we reassess, as we need to,if maybe that night doesn't work
anymore, we find ourselvescanceling it. I think there are
so many ways, if we justcommunicate with the people that
we love, set those boundariesand then have space to not beat
ourselves up and reassess if weneed to. Lynelle, this has been
(38:37):
so much fun. Thank you so muchfor being on and talking through
your process. Where can peoplefind you? Get to know you, hang
out
Lynell @WeekendReader_ (38:47):
with you again. Thank you for having me.
This has definitely been a lotof fun. I love doing podcasts
because then I get all of thesereally great questions. I'm
like, Oh, I didn't think aboutit that way. But folks can find
me on Instagram and threads atweekend reader underscore, and
then my blog is weekend slashreader.blogspot.com, and those
(39:12):
are the main places for folks tofind me. And we'll
Alesia Galati (39:15):
make sure that we have those linked in the show
notes for anyone driving ordoing other things while they're
listening or watching. Thank youso much. Lynelle,
Unknown (39:23):
thank you. You.
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