Hooked By a Book!

    I'm pretty sure you don't have to be an extremely avid reader to get hooked by a story. You don't have to be the kind of person who always carries two or three novels in your backpack. It only takes one. One story that draws you in and holds you like a tornado, pulling you through the current of its plot and keeping you thrilled to the point where you don't want to stop reading until the story is over.
    It's actually pretty cool, experiencing a novel that interesting. It's a fantastic adventure and the sort of story one can take valuable notes on.
    But there are, unfortunately, more than a few consequences to being so focused on reading a book. The worlds in stories can be awesome to travel in, but we still live in a real world that requires our attention. Whether you're a kid, a teenager, or an adult, there are things to be done. Homework to do, classes to pay attention to, family dinners to attend, a job to work at. When we're reading, we're not doing these things, and we can't put those things off for days.
    And tragically, not every day has hours of uninterrupted free time to spend on reading. Sometimes we've got to pause, shut the book, put it away, and focus on a completely different task. Which can be especially difficult when the story's in the middle of the action, or when there's a cliffhanger to be resolved. It's like a part of the mind is still stuck between the pages! Can't you sometimes hear particularly interesting lines being reread, picture scenes replaying? It can take more than a couple minutes to readjust to the real world.
    Then of course, there's the beast of procrastination. This thing seems to enjoy taking advantage of awesome books. When there's a nice hour to do something, and the choice is between the fun, three-quarters-of-the-way-completed book and the boring homework assignment, it's not too difficult to guess which one will be picked and which one neglected. I can finish the book tonight! There's only a hundred more pages! There'll be time to finish the other thing later! Sure there will . . .
    It's tough sometimes. Somewhat unbelievable, but it can honestly be hard to put a really interesting story down and force oneself back into the real world. It takes willpower, and a remembrance of priorities.
    I schedule a specific time on a particular day to finish a novel. On the weekends, usually, or during a break. Having an arranged, usually uninterrupted time to look forward to helps me put off immediately going into the next chapter--which would then be followed by the next one, and the next one, etc.
    Do you know what it's like having a book you can't put down? Which book was it? Do you have a strategy for putting it off for a while?