Reading Proust and Nabokov, where to go from here

Hello. I've been trying to read authors like Proust and Nabokov because I want to be a better writer than hackfrauds like Dan Simmons (who'd also read them), but I don't know if I'm engaging with them right, how to make time for them or where I should go from here on my literary journey towards becoming a better reader and hopefully a half-competent writer of prose fiction.

What should I do? I'm looking for examples of complex literary fiction to be inspired by.