Has Writing Ruined my Reading Pleasure?

Let’s start with some facts:

I wanted to be a writer as a teenager. I’ve only really made a proper go of it over the last eighteen months.
I’ve always loved reading. I could devour a book in two to three days, start another straight after, and do the same again. I love escaping into another person’s head and living their story.
I write for the same reason. However, since I’ve re-organised my life to fit in everything that my writing requires, I have a problem. I struggle to find the time to read, and when I do get the chance, I can’t seem to get lost in a book as I once did.

I hate to admit it, but my love of reading has gone. This saddens me on so many levels.

For one, I think reading is an important part of being a writer. How can I learn how to improve my writing if I don’t read? Second, it’s important to read other authors in one’s genre to keep in touch with what’s out there. Third, the best way to support fellow authors is to buy and read their books, and hopefully, others will do the same for me. Four, I loved reading and it breaks my heart that it no longer gives me pleasure.

I noticed a change in my reading as soon as I started writing. Now, not only do I have to read tiny snippets at a time, but I can’t seem to switch off my writer’s mindset and just read for pleasure. I’m usually making notes to write a review and I can’t stop thinking about the author’s use of structure, pacing, dialogue, etc.

I’m so frustrated that I have had to take a complete break from reading historical romance. I’ve read a lot of contemporary romance lately, but now even that is becoming less and less enjoyable.

Reading Pleasure

Over Christmas, I wanted to read loads and I had the time off work to do so. I took a complete writing break for two whole weeks and planned only to read for fun. Nothing historical or contemporary appealed, so I took a leap of faith and went with a sub-genre I don’t usually read. I managed to devour five books, but now I am stumbling again. It’s been over a week since I read anything and I am getting concerned.

I long for the days when I could just read a novel, fully immersed in the characters and story that I would lose hours at a time. I don’t want to read a story where I am always thinking about plot, character arcs, sentence structure, or punctuation. If I’m honest, reading now feels like an unpleasant chore.

Is this just me being ridiculous? Is this something I’m going to have to live with?

Reading was my way of relaxing and ridding myself of the stress of the day. If I can’t do that anymore I swear I will go insane. I’m sure I have some grey hairs appearing at my temples, and I did not have those before I started writing.

What can I do? I honestly don’t know. This week I actually said I was too tired to read – something I’ve never uttered before in my life. Have any of you experienced anything similar? What did you do? Let me know in the comments.