Daily Reading Routine

Sometime over the last few years, I became more intentional about the ways I incorporate reading into my daily rituals. My reading routine has become a familiar and welcome part of my days, and it has worked well for me. My routine is a hack that allows me to make intentional space for my priorities. As a writer, I believe, that reading needs to be a high-priority activity for me to do my job well. Also, it just makes me happy, because I love to read. And since I’m often curious about daily hacks that are helpful for other people, I’ll share the what, why, and how behind my reading routine. Perhaps adopting some of these ideas might be helpful to you, too.

What I read every day: Non-fiction, liturgy, scripture, poetry, news/commentary, and fiction.

Why: I want to educate myself. Through scripture, I also want to open myself to spiritual direction, and through liturgy, I worship, meditate, and organize my prayers. I want to use various forms of literature to expose myself to different viewpoints and cultural ideas, experience language usage in new and different ways, analyze what does and does not work for other writers, and, of course, I just want to enjoy good stories.

What this looks like:

I wake up early and sip on a hot mug of lemon water while reading a few pages of Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg. These short essays on the craft of writing motivate me. I used to wake up and immediately grab my phone, but I broke that habit because I did not feel it was healthy for me. I want to be in charge of setting the tone for my day and I didn’t feel like that was happening when my first activity involved reading the news and emails.

After ten minutes of meditation (I use the Calm app), I feed the dog and get myself a cup of coffee with chocolate collagen peptides to take into my office. While I drink my coffee, I use the liturgy from the Common Prayer: A liturgy for Ordinary Radicals book to pray and read scriptures. I will journal for a few minutes when I'm finished with that. This is also where I figure out my plan/goals for the day.

Next, I go into the kitchen and get myself some breakfast. While I eat my breakfast, I like to read a few poems. I’ve been working my way through The Poetry of Robert Frost for the last few months.

Then I do some yoga, indoor cycling, shower, and dress for the day. Not until I’m dressed do I allow myself to check emails, social media, and read the news. There’s one newsletter that I read daily: Letters from an American. The author is a history professor and I love the way she relates history to current events. I also enjoy the New York Times. As you can see, I lean toward preferring progressive news sources, but I also will occasionally read The Dispatch newsletter to balance those out with a more conservative point-of-view.

After that, I take my dog for a walk before getting to my writing work. I like to write in the mornings because my mind is fresh. After or during lunch, I will give myself some time to read a novel. I just finished reading The Henna Artist (loved it) and next up is A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.

Often I’ll read in the evenings, too. I enjoy keeping track of what I’ve read and finding suggestions for more books on Goodreads. Are you also on Goodreads? If so, let’s connect!

What about you? Do you have a reading routine? Or is your reading schedule more fluid? It’s really about what works best for you. And if you have any suggestions, I’m open to hearing them!

Happy reading!