As some of you have probably noticed, I'm not really great at follow thru. Oh I make progress but I like too much variety to stick to a solid plan. That means I don't really make annual goals, I just work week to week at what I would like to accomplish. Heck, sometimes, it's just day to day...
The one area that I do set a goal is with my reading. I know, go figure =^..^=
I regularly track my books on Shelfari and my general goal is just to read more books than last year. I accomplished that goal again this year; finishing 74 books compared to 71 last year.
As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, I have previously done what I now call an alphabet soup challenge where I had to read titles that started with A thru Z. I have also seen that challenge using author names starting with A to Z. I was hoping to find another challenge for 2014 and after some searching yesterday, came up with 2 challenges. One of them is going to take quite a while but should be lots of fun.
Challenge #1 is the Color Coded Challenge from My Readers Block. Basically, over the next year I'll have to read 9 books that have colors in the titles. Please check the link for specifics but basically one book will have to have blue (or some shade of blue) in the title. The others are red, yellow, green, brown, black, white, any other color, and a word that implies color. There is a linky party to sign up for the challenge so I encourage you to join up.
I am renaming challenge #2 to the Calendar Challenge since I just found it and it actually started last April. It was originally called Monthly Mix-up Mania and it's also from My Readers Block. This is a doozy of a challenge lasting 2 years but the goal is to read 74 (!!) books that begin with the letters that spell out the months of the year. You know - books that start with J-A-N-U-A-R-Y, etc. I suppose I could back track thru the books that I have read in the last year but I want to start with a clean slate. Be sure to check the link for specifics. I might tweak some of the rules since I already changed the name, haven't made up my mind yet.
To keep track of my challenges this year I'll be creating a tab at the top of my blog later this week. (Yikes, another goal)
Would anyone be interested in joining me in either of these challenges or any other reading challenge? I could host another monthly linky party where everyone could check in on their challenge or even just the last (quilting?) book you read?!
Have an awesome New Year and I'll see all y'all again next year!
I have never set any kind of reading goal for myself. I only read Christian fiction, so it might be a bit more of a challenge for me - LOL. I might be interested in the color one, but ALL of my books are packed up until we find a house to move to, and the closest book store is like an hour and a half away! But not to worry, we have a small library and I have a ton of free e-books on my kindle app on my phone.
ReplyDeleteHow fun - yes I would join in! I am going to start sorting my bookshelves into read now(never read!), re-read and donate next week. Once I see the numbers I'll play around with challenge ideas. Both of yours should be very interesting - I can't wait to see what you come up with.
ReplyDeleteI have kept track of my reading since the 1980s, but the only challenge I've ever done was self-imposed. I must read a minimum of one book a month. Sometimes I read a book a week or more, but I don't join challenges because that just creates a stress, and I like my reading to be stress free. I know that I can't be consistent, so I just do what I can and call it good.
ReplyDeleteI admire your lofty goals and will cheer you on while you do something amazing yet again!! : )
I'm waffling. I want to read more...but I hate to have 'deadlines' imposed on my reading! Haha! I'll definitely check in, though! Happy New Year!!! :)
ReplyDeletesuch a good idea to keep trck of what you have read, I find myself getting books out of the library only to find part way through I have read them before. I only read in the bath! so could not keep up with your challenge, but will be interesting seeing what you are reading and what you enjoy, likewise what you do not enjoy.Maybe I will try some you read too
ReplyDeleteI popped over here from Denise's blog to see what the Reading Challenge is all about... what fun!!! I would love to join in, but not using colors or calendar letters - I'm thinking this might fit in very well with my plan to SIMPLIFY this year! I will challenge myself to either read or discard at least 3 books from my "To Read" stack(s) each month. Perfect!
ReplyDeleteI'd love to join in a monthly linky party if you decide to do one - keeps me focused and accountable :*)