For once, I’m going to talk about something that isn’t books. I know, I know… it’s weird, but after all, there are hobbies we need to have on the side when those reading slumps hit, right?

And, to be fair, buying books definitely counts as a separate hobby than actually reading those books.

I’m going to be totally honest here and say that I don’t really have a lot of other hobbies that I fully enjoy; just a select few. Maybe if I were more of an outdoorsy person I’d have more that I’d like to do, but I don’t really care for being outside for too long. Or any of the hobbies that go along with it.

My Non-Bookish Hobbies

Photography/Videography

Photography is one of my hobbies that I’ve been into the longest after writing. It kind of started as an accident when I took this really cool picture of a fire hydrant being drained on my way home from school. Since then, I’ve just enjoyed being behind a camera, whether it’s photography or video. I do obviously incorporate this into my bookish world because of bookstagram, but it started as a separate hobby.

Videography was also an accidental hobby after I’d made a video of my church’s softball team playing a few games the summer after high school. I was recruited to make football videos after that, then more softball, BMX, and eventually I went to college for Communications/Video Production. I’ve had a couple of times where I’ve had to use my skills at my library job, which is pretty cool. I don’t make videos as often, but occasionally I’m hired to do a wedding video or high school sports reels.

The Sims

Oh Sims… another hobby that I’ll spend weeks obsessing over then not touch it for a long time. At least this one doesn’t require practice to build a skill. I tend to use it for character creation for my original stories, but most often I’ll create characters from favorite TV shows to play as. I’ve never actually made myself in Sims, but I might give it a try eventually.

Also, side note, I’ll probably go into a Sims binge during August because they’re releasing a High School expansion pack on July 28th.

Language Learning

Despite loving to learn languages, and taking two years of both Spanish and Italian in high school and college, I’m not actually fluent in any other language. Funnily enough, the language I understand the best is French, which I was actively studying in 2018-2019 on my own, but then life hit and I haven’t touched my books/apps since. I do still remember phrases and use them on a normal basis, so that’s something. I would eventually like to be somewhat fluent in French one day, as well as Hungarian (as that’s a part of my heritage).

I do also know some phrases in Hungarian such as “I love you”, “thank you”, and “yes/no”, but most importantly, I know the words for “cat” and “kitten” in Hungarian. And that’s all anyone needs to know in any language if you ask me.

Drawing

This is definitely more of a new hobby and I’m not great at it, but I enjoy it. I tend to go in spurts with wanting to draw. Like I’ll spend a couple of weeks where I draw something each night, but then go months without touching my art stuff. It’s probably why I’m not great at drawing, but hey, I just do it for fun… not work.

Writing

I wasn’t going to add writing to this list, as I pretty much consider it bookish, but I guess it’s not always that way. It’s not like I do it to write novels all of the time or anything. I typically write more fanfiction than anything (or I did for a long time, not so much recently). Considering that most of what I write will never get published, I guess it’s safe to say I do it more for myself and a few select friends. Then, of course, there’s blogging and for a short while I was into journalism (but I could never do it in this day and age without being completely biased about, well, everything).

It’s funny, I feel like somehow all of my hobbies relate to books somehow, but they didn’t start out that way. Except writing, that is. I think a lot of the reason I don’t have other hobbies, like crafting, is because I don’t have the patience for them. I never have. And again, I’m not an outdoorsy person, so outdoor hobbies are a no-go for me.

What are some of your non-bookish hobbies?