The Short Story is Perfect for Busy Parents

Parents are always on the go. As well as looking after your child/children, you’re cooking, cleaning, trying to look after your own hygiene, going to appointments and maybe like me also trying to get used to a new routine after returning to work; the list goes on. So as a working Mum I no longer have masses of time to indulge myself in a book, nor any guaranteed time each day to read. Sometimes a few minutes here and there has to suffice. Because of this I am currently finding it harder and harder to read anything that takes me longer than a couple days ( split into small segments) to get to the end of the story, before I find myself bored. The last couple of novels I have attempted to read through no fault of the writers writing, have ended picking up dust on my side cabinet 200 pages through, with me not really caring in finding out how the book ends. Which is why I have found myself rejuvenated by the short story. Often only taking from 10 minutes to an hour to read, I am finding myself actually finishing a story. Unlike a novel I feel no pressure to finish it out of pure guilt that I have spent this much time on it thus far, so I must finish it while wondering how many years it will take me to complete it. Instead I find myself wanting to read more, knowing I only have to commit a short time in the day or over a couple of days to finish what I started. You can get far in a short story by reading a quick ten minutes. If you’re lucky , or find your child is having a decent nap you can finish a piece in one sitting or if your hectic you can spread a few minutes spare here and there throughout the day. In ten minutes of reading a novel you are perhaps still in the same scene as when you started. Before you know it your child has awoken from their nap and you’ve lost momentum. With the short story ten minutes before bed and you have satisfied your imagination for the day.

Perhaps one day, when life is a little less busy, I will find myself going back to the novel but for now, the Short story is ticking all the boxes. Which is why I will be restarting a series I did previously but instead of poetry, 3 short stories by 3 different authors, each month for 3 months. I will however be releasing each recommendation as a separate post instead of being clumped into one post. each month. Keep an eye out for February’s first story, coming very soon!