Last year January, I remember reading a post on an email group from an author complaining about the number of books she had to read for the Rita contest. Her complaint, and I’m paraphrasing, was:
Eight books! I don’t even read eight books in a year!
My initial response, which was totally nonverbal, looked something like:
0.O
Seriously? You’re an author (and yes, yes she was) and you don’t read. Really? Her excuse? She had all these contracts and was just so busy. Because, you know, the rest of us aren’t.
I do understand not having enough time to do a lot of pleasure reading. Or, when there is time, being too tired. Just last night, I fell asleep reading, only realizing it when my Kindle pitched forward and thumped me on the chest.
And every once in a while, I’ll entertain the idea of simply being a reader–forget this writing stuff. Sadly, it never works out and I end up writing again. But my point is: why write if you don’t read or don’t like to read?
So with that in mind, I’m taking on two reading challenges this year. First, I’m doing the War Through the Generations challenge again. This year the challenge focuses on World War I. I’m doing something a little different this year, too. Normally, I’ve signed up for the “dip” level, which is 1 – 3 books (and yeah, you saw me skate in with book 3 at the last moment).
For 2012, I’m upping the number of books, trying the “wade” level of 4 – 10 books. Sure, to “win” all I really need to do is read one more than I normally do for this challenge. Still. It’s a little intimidating.
The other challenge is the Fifty/Fifty challenge. Fifty books and fifty movies, all in one year. You can combine this challenge with other ones, which is what makes it so great–beyond the neat community already starting up over there.
If you’ve never done a reading challenge, I think this one would be a great place to start. It’s meant to get you reading and watching things you haven’t read or watched before. Already there’s movie and books suggestions.
My personal goal, beyond the challenges, is to read 75 books. If I end up watching 50 movies, we might have to throw a parade.
Wish me luck. Or better yet, join in and keep me company.
Writing Wrongs 
On goodreads, I made the mistake of setting a goal of 100 books in the coming year. I’ve never kept track before and I’m not entirely sure I’ll manage it. I’m slightly terrified!
Good luck! I use LibraryThing to keep track. It doesn’t have the goal feature (not that I’ve found at least), but I tag all my books so I can see what I’ve read in a certain year.