Ask a Literary Lady: How Do I Stop Missing My Stop?
Dear Literary Lady,
Whenever I read on the train or the bus, I get so absorbed I miss my stop, I’m late to wherever I’m going, and then I have a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Help!
– B.F., Washington D.C.
Dear B.F.,
Oh the Curse of the Commuter Bookworm! Every morning it befalls another unsuspecting, unlucky reader. I know it well because it happened to me at least twice a day all throughout grade school.
The curse usually strikes when a book is not just good, but too good. So good that it’s miss-your-stop worthy. You become so absorbed in a fictional world that you can’t help but tune out the real world and you can think only of turning the page. You’re enjoying reading so much that your commute seems too short. In fact, let’s face it, you’re having more fun with your novel than whatever you have to do at whatever place you’re going.
So how do you stop missing your stop? Here are a few things to try:
1. Don’t wear headphones.
True, you won’t be able to block out the screaming baby or the businessman jabbering on his phone, but you’ll need your aural senses to be alert to transportation announcements while your eyes are busy devouring the pages of your book.
2. Set a timer or a reminder on your phone.
If your commute is 47 minutes, set your phone to vibrate/beep 45 minutes after you get on the train. Once it goes off, put your book down and muster all the discipline you have to sit tight for the next two minutes!
3. Bookmark your book beforehand.
Figure out how many pages you can safely read before you approach your stop. If you can always read 20 pages during your commute, insert a bookmark 20 pages ahead. When you reach the bookmark, take a break and check if you’re almost at your destination.
4. Stand during your commute.
That seat might be tempting, but you’re less likely to get too comfortable and miss your stop if you’re standing. Moreover, if you’re standing, you’re more apt to feel the train or bus lurching to a stop and you’ll look up to see if you’re almost there.
5. Hold something in your other hand.
It sounds weird but holding something in your hand is going to make you less comfortable, and anything that makes you less comfortable means that you’re less likely to sink into the pages of your novel with abandon. It could be anything—a travel mug of coffee, your lunch bag, a pen, a yoyo—whatever you’re holding will make turning the pages more difficult and you’ll start to wonder how many more stops you have to go.
6. Sit or stand next to the door.
The constant stream of people exiting or entering the vehicle will distract you just enough that you keep track of all the stops that are going by. Sometimes when you read, you lose all track of time. If you’re standing near the door and have to keep an eye out for incoming and outgoing passengers, you’ll remember where you are.
7. Leave earlier.
If you’re a repeat offender when it comes to missing your stop and being late, then know thyself and simply leave earlier. If you do manage to get off at the right stop, it’s perfectly ok that you’re thirty minutes early – you just bought yourself a little extra reading time!
Lastly, don’t let a missed stop ruin your day. Everyone’s commute runs into unforeseeable delays, whether they’re reading or not. Think of it as a little detour that gives you just a few more minutes of calm before the storm.
Love and paperbacks,
Literary Lady