I'm pretty sure all of us readers have been through a reading slump. Some of us might have taken weeks or months (or even years - who knows) before we were able to pick up a book again and actually read.

There was a time when I wasn't in the mood to read at all and if I remember, it almost lasted a year or maybe it did but I just forced myself to read for the sake of my Goodreads challenge - yeah, not an ideal thing to do. Never again because it felt like I'm doing it for the numbers and not for my love to read.

So here are some of the things that help me motivate to read again. Not a guarantee that I actually finish the book because sometimes the slump just overpowers but it's still a big thing (for me anyway) that I am able to pick up a book and actually start it. Well, it also depends on the story if it's engaging enough for me to go on. I mean that doesn't also guarantee if I'll finish the book but I'm a mood reader so sometimes that helps too.

— REREADING MY FAVORITE BOOKS
Or "skimming" my favorite books and then read my favorite parts/scenes. This happened a lot of times already and I saw a pattern and took note of it.  This always (okay a stretch, let's say most of the time instead) helps because I either end up rereading the whole book or I go pick a new read from the same genre as the book I skimmed/reread. Getting motivated to read again doesn't necessarily mean you only get to read the NEW BOOKS (whether newly released or "new" as in from the backlog). It can also be those books you've read from a long long time ago and you want to relive the experience of reading it again like the first time.

— SETTING UP A TBR
A TBR was never my thing in the past, still isn't really right now, but lately I've been making some and so far it's helped me get my motivation back. I'm still not good at being able to read everything that's on the list but I've managed to make progress enough to make me proud (lowkey a lie because I'm still hoping one day I'd actually read everything I pile on this mountain of books). 

— FANARTS AND/OR EDITS
A looootttt of talented people make fanarts and edits of their favorite books or recently read books and I'm glad to be following some of these people on Instagram. Their works are definitely a big motivator for me. Not only are their works attracting my eyes with their visually-pleasing aesthetics or illustrations, they also introduce me to books I've never heard of. Getting to read what they think of the book/s in their posts is one thing but seeing a visual image of what it's about is another.

— CURIOSITY
This is connected to fanarts and/or edits because I get curious and end up on Goodreads searching for the book. My curiosity usually gets a hold of me and I want to thank books with attention-gripping synopsis. There are those books too with synopsis that aren't really that gripping, like sometimes in romance, but they're enough for me to wonder "Hmm.. I wanna know what these characters are gonna go through even though I know a 100% that they're gonna end up together in the end" - something like that. 

— MUSIC, ESPECIALLY THE SAPPY KIND
I've associated a lot of my favorite characters/OTPs with songs. Love songs. The sappy kind of love songs. Whenever I listen to these songs, I get reminded of them. And when I get reminded of them, I go skim their book. And after that I find myself rereading from the first page (happened a few times). Like please.. I get emotional and start missing them and their book's looking at me like "WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR, GO READ ME AGAIN". I cave most of the time.

— MY MOOD
Like I said, I'm a mood reader and this is pretty.. generic? I don't know the term but it's quite obvious that our moods play a big role in this. But there are times too when I feel like I'm in the mood to read yet I always go "I'll start this later" and later becomes tomorrow, becomes the day after that, the next week, month, then never. So yeah,

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And going back to what I said, the thing about getting motivated to read again doesn't ultimately apply to reading the new books. Picking up a book, whether new to you or something you've read before, is already an achievement I think.