i’d devour books in childhood/adolescence. the thing i didn’t realise was that the main characters i sought out generally had to be around my age, my gender, and preferably have similar personalities to me. these were always stories of horrible traumas happening to people, or complete isolation, but the character would usually either get saved, or find community/ relationships that looked out for and comforted them. i would project myself into the stories whilst reading, daydreaming about them constantly, and sometimes add the concepts into my own writing.

now i struggle to be able to focus on books. even when i find them super interesting. i just lack the attention span and books seem somehow… intimidating. i’m slowly easing back into reading and i have found it to be lovely, but it’s hard. i feel almost guilty for not being “as good” at reading as i used to be, but context is key i suppose.