Editors' Association of Earth discussion

I know two editors who find they cannot read for pleasure because they read all day. One reads only in audiobook format for pleasure and the other pursues different hobbies that have nothing to do with words in her spare time. I find I can't read something that's very similar to what I'm currently working on, so I often find myself reading nonfiction when I'm working on fiction and vice versa. Do you find editing affects your ability to read for pleasure?

I haven't noticed this at all, though I can see how it would be a factor for some people. The only thing that really affects my reading for pleasure is the amount of spare time I have and the sort of mood I'm in. That said, I'm rarely in the sort of mood where I don't want to read anything.

I've always done a lot of writing, and the revision stages of it are no different than the editing I do for work. Could be I've trained myself, since I started writing at an early age, to separate reading from writing and editing.

Nope. I can read all day for work, then read all night for fun. I do find that I sometimes have difficulty shutting off my editor brain when I am reading for pleasure, though, and I have to remind myself to stop thinking so much and just enjoy it.

I generally have no problem reading for pleasure. I find it relaxing and rejuvenating to get lost in another author's world. And I am usually able to turn off the editor side of my brain. But so far this year I have been suffering from readers block. It's disconcerting. I've been working on a lot of challenging development editing projects and figure that my brain is too taxed.

Has anyone else been incapable of reading?

I struggle to read for pleasure at times. It's very easy to be jarred out of a book by errors of one kind or another.

No problem AT ALL. Although truly awful writing is a challenge ... But it always was.

I don't have trouble reading for pleasure, maybe because there's a distinct physical difference between reading for fun and reading for work. Reading for work happens at my desk, on a screen, glasses on. Reading for fun happens on paper, on the couch, glasses off with the book 3 inches from my face, frequently with an adult beverage in hand.

I have no problem whatsoever reading for pleasure.

I make sure that I squeeze reading for pleasure into my schedule. I love to read!

Also, I enjoy reading the manuscripts that I edit and the ones that I beta read/evaluate.

So, it's all good, as they say.

I still enjoy reading for pleasure, and usually have 4-5 books in progress at any given time (Like to read while on exercise bike). HOWEVER, since I became an official freelance copyeditor, I am finding it much more difficult to ignore misspellings, grammar issues, awkward phrasing. Just can't shut off my "red pen" eyeballs! Perhaps audiobooks would be a solution.

Julia:

I like to read while on my exercise bike, too. (2 birds, 1 stone)

To avoid those spelling errors, I turn on the text-to-speech feature on my kindle. But, I still hear the awkward phrasings!

HKelleyB

HKelleyB wrote: "Julia:

I like to read while on my exercise bike, too. (2 birds, 1 stone)

To avoid those spelling errors, I turn on the text-to-speech feature on my kindle. But, I still hear the awkward phrasing..."

Oooh, I didn't know of such a thing! Probably not on the Kindle app for iPad, though. Darn. *Adding to Christmas wishlist*