Guess what everybody! The Holidays are almost over. This means anew year is upon us, and we are all getting ready to put our best foot forward with our new year’s resolutions. Sadly, a lot of us never stick to our new goals for very, though (I must admit I have been one of those people this year.).
For those of us with the goal of writing and reading more this coming year (because let’s face it, we all need to be doing more of both of these.) it can be challenging to make the time in our busy lives to actually sit down and read a book we enjoy, or work on our craft. It doesn’t have to be as hard as we think it is though!
Let me explain further. Every year I set a goal to read more and expand my horizons in the fictional worlds, and almost every year I fail. This year I am determined though. So, instead of setting a random goal of X number of books, or saying I want to read X amount of different Authors, this year I created my own reading challenge!
My reading challenge inspires me personally and gets me excited to check off something on it. Reading goals shouldn’t be boring, or something you dread at the end of each day. They should be exciting, and full of wonder, making you dance in anticipation of finally being able to sit down and read something!
Not all challenges are created equal, and goals aren’t a one fits all deal. Below is my personal challenge for 2018. I hope it inspires you to read more, or go out and create your own reading challenge for the year. Maybe go online and look at all kinds of different ones to help you make your own awe-inspiring list.
THE WRITTEN WORD INSPIRES 2018 READING CHALLENGE.
1- A sci-fi novel
2- A children’s fantasy book
3- A book of poetry
4- A book meant to improve your writing
5- A book written by a local Author
6- A book based in Japan
7- Listen to an audiobook
8- Read a book written by a new Author
9- A book with bad reviews
10- A book written by an Author you have never heard of
11- A Fantasy novel
12- A book at the top of a bestsellers list
13- Book of short stories
14- A biography of someone you admire
15- One of your favorite Authors favorite books
16- Read something by an Author that died last year
17- A book originally written in a foreign language
18- A book that is being made into a movie this year
19- A book with a protagonist who struggles with mental health
20- A book with a fictional language in it
21- A book with an LGBTQIA+ themed character
22- A historical novel
23- A book written in third person
24- A book with a fictional species in it
25- A book with a fictional religion in it.
The challenge is short enough that it won’t interfere with my writing schedule (I have a lot of writing goals for 2018) but long enough to keep me reading a bit every day. My overall goal with this challenge is to expand my horizons a bit; I have a horrible habit of sticking to the same genres, and same few Authors, so I am hoping to break out of that and improve my reading habits.
What are you reading goals for 2018? Any big plans?
Next week we will be back on track with the blog post topics, with a post talking about perspectives and tenses in writing. If you would like to use this reading challenge, I have added a new page to the blog where it will stay for the duration of the year.
I hope you all have a wonderful week! Don’t forget that starting on the first, I will be posting a writing prompt every day to help us all get into better writing habit this coming year.
The Written Word Inspires 