Even though I stopped making New Year’s Resolutions years ago I’ve decided to make some literary ones for 2018. Since starting Kellie’s Corner, I’ve set monthly goals for myself and am hoping to continue accomplishing the new goals I set. This year I plan to use the many reading challenges out there for inspiration on what to read next. All that said, I’ll unofficially participate in the 2018 Monthly Motif Reading Challenge hosted by girlxoxo.com.
I’ve chosen to participate unofficially because, as much as I want to read books that fit each monthly motif, I might not have as much time to read as I would like. This will be my first reading challenge and I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself. Reading, after all, should be fun! I think the monthly motifs will keep me from feeling overwhelmed and will help me pace myself. The challenges are practical/realistic enough that I’m sure I’ll be able to find titles for each month.
My overall goal for 2018 is to continue to experience stories that are outside my usual genre of mystery/horror/thriller. Of course, I won’t be ignoring those books, but I’ll try to pick others in addition to them. I would also like to read works from authors I haven’t previously read, so hopefully I discover some new favorites. January’s challenge is to “Diversify Your Reading” by reading a story about, or written by, someone who is a different anything/everything (culture, race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, etc.) other than my own. I’m interested to see how I go about making my decisions regarding what I should read.
Another goal I have for this year is to not stress out about or focus too much on the number of books I read each month, but more of what I get from the ones I do read. I really want to keep broadening my literary world, so I’m going for quality this year. (I say that now, but my competitive side will want to read more books than I did in 2017.) Some people are sticklers for printed books versus audiobooks or ebooks, but I’m not going to worry about that either. While audiobooks work best for my schedule at the moment, I’d love to sit down and read a book printed on real paper. I’ll probably use parts of other reading challenges to inspire my reading list. Thankfully, the internet is full of book lists based on reading challenges, so if I get stumped at any point I’ll have help.
In addition to their own book challenge, girlxoxo.com has a wonderful master list of 2018 reading challenges you may want to check out. Even if you don’t actually participate in any of them, they’re a great help if you can’t think of what to read next.
Happy reading!
Kellie's Corner 