Wouldn't it be nice if we could just read day in and day out? But life has to happen and reading every day from the moment you get up to when you go to bed is not possible.

However, because I'm a writer and editor (that's my day job), I encounter so many who assume that I have all this time on my hands to read every book on the planet. And it's another assumption that makes an ass out of all parties involved.

Far too many times, I encounter someone who starts talking about some random book, assuming that I've read it. Yet, more often than not, I don't have a clue what they're talking about.

"But surely you've read that book. Oh, you know the one I'm talking about. It only came out… um… last year. Ohh, why haven't you read that book yet? It's in your genre."

Well, I haven't read it because I didn't know it existed. Or I have too many other books to read. Or I just don't have enough time in the day.

It's time to put a little reality in this equation, and highlight that there are only so many hours in the day, and sometimes, I don't want to read.

The "To Read" pile keeps growing

It's a bit of a joke among writers and editors, how our "to read" piles are huge. Taller than our houses. Taller than Mount Everest.

The issue is that there are so many books already on the planet, and more come out every day. And we writers and editors are adding to the mountains of books out there all the time.

Because there are so many books out there, we could never hope to read every book on the planet. Yet, there are some people who just seem to think that writers and editors have so much time to do nothing but reading. So surely, we've read that book.

Alas, we haven't.

Time needs to be spent writing and editing

But there is another side to this equation that many non-writers don't understand. I might be a writer and editor. That's my day job. It's how I put food on the table (though I'm failing at that… an issue for a different day). So, I need to be spending the bulk of my time writing or editing—not reading for pleasure.

And when I get to the end of the day, my eyes have had enough.

I'm often at my computer before 7am (at least six days a week)… and I often work right through to 3pm, sometimes 5pm. That's an 8- to 10-hour day of computer work, and constantly focusing on close material, often focusing intensely on what I'm reading. At the end of the day, I need to rest my eyes. So, reading a book for pleasure is not at the top of my list.

My number one method of relaxing my eyes is to watch something on one of the various streaming services that my family subscribes to. A movie. A mindless TV-series. And occasionally, it's just music from Spotify.

So, when someone comes to me and starts referring to any one of the countless number of books out there, the odds are the answer is "No, I haven't read it."

Casual reading is different to close reading

When I have some of these conversations, on an often enough basis, I encounter this reticulating look. "But to be a good editor or writer, you need to read widely." And that statement is true… to a point. But casual reading is different to close reading.

Reading widely is about understanding how others construct story. How they construct their prose. I can study that without casually reading every book on the planet. Close reading (what the technique is called) requires an intense level of focus… and it's often on a particular body of work that you are reading for a specific purpose. It's not a casual perusal of the text.

For me, casual reading comes with a level of escapism, where I can switch off the editor for a bit and just be taken away by the story. But it's a rare writer who is capable of creating that feeling for me.

For too often, I start reading a book (one of the many books that someone has insisted I read), and I find myself going into developmental-editor mode. I start pulling apart the dialogue, analyzing the show-vs-tell constructions, and examining the characterizations and plot. I struggle to switch it off. And there will be times when I curse and swear because there's a plot hole that I can drive a tractor through. And if the plot is so incredibly predictable… GAH!

Within my casual reading, I want to be able to just enjoy the ride and forget that life exists for a while. And I can't do that with most books. And I only have so much mental bandwidth before I just don't want to look at another written word… until the new day, when I'm excited to look at the black blobby masses that resemble letters on the page.

So, the next time you ask me if I have read that book—whatever that book might be—it's safe to assume that I probably haven't read it. And it's also safe to assume that I'm likely to never read it, because that "to read" pile is about to turn into an avalanche.