This is the time of year for allll the goals. I shall read all the books! I shall exercise every day! I shall never eat sugar again! Recently, someone said this was the ‘Monday of the year’. I love that idea, we are rested (hopefully), well fed (so. much. food.), and ready to tackle an entire year. Also, I love Monday’s. So there you go.
I haven’t made many goals for this year. Usually, I make an entire to do list for myself. Recently, however, I have tried to shy away from massive to do lists. They be stressful…
But of course, I had to make reading goals, or to do lists, or whatever. Books are important.
There is a sad, sad shelf of unread nonfiction books in my house. I say sad, because these are all books I picked up, or my husband picked up, in a fervor of ‘getting smarter’ or ‘learning more’ and on and on. But we never, ever, read them. So there they sit, untouched, unread, unloved. Some of them have been there for years. Oops. Now, most of these books are the fat books discussing philosophy and morals. Which may explain the dust… Still, I want to have read the books we own. And then if I don’t like it, I can give it away, and free up more shelf space!
My goal is to read one of those books a month. That’s it. I choose one at the beginning of the month, and read it in small doses throughout the month. So far, the book has become the one I read at night, but that may change depending on how much brain power I need to read it. I like this goal because for me, it is manageable. I can read one book at a time, spread throughout a whole month. There is no rush, because I own it, and I can break it up with lighter reads.
I attempted, with some success, to do this last year. When I was successful, I liked it so much I decided to try again with it this year. I want to read only one, or two books at a time. Now, because of aforesaid nonfiction goal, it will probably always be two books at a time. But no more than that!
This goal is not because I become confused with books. I can keep all the plots and characters straight in my head. Don’t ask me how, because I don’t know. I created this goal because it keeps me more focused on finishing one book. I can’t jump around from book to book just because the character is driving me crazy, or because I got bored. I am committed to one book until the end. I think it helped me to finish more books that way, even with the crazy year I had last year. Also, I read books quicker, because there are no options. Which is a plus. I don’t have to decide what I am reading tonight, the decision has already been made.
There you go, my two reading goals for this year. My first one is off to a great start, my second one? Heh. I’ll get back to you on that.
Shaina Merrick
The Beauty of a Story 