The Wrong Way to Start a Reading Challenge

With the new year stretching out before us, anything seems possible. Because of that, I’m challenging myself to read 50 books this year.Last year was my first attempt at counting the number of books and I might have lost count, but it came to less than 50. It’s possible that I’ve never read anything close to that in a year. It wouldn’t be much of a challenge though if I tried for an easy number like 10 or 20, so I decided to go for 50.

Then I started reading The Brothers Karamazov. I’ve enjoyed it so far, but couldn’t help nodding off two or three times while reading it last weekend. I could blame the dog. She gets blamed for most things anyway and she kept me warm while making a quick nap look like a great idea at the time.

Still, I managed to get through 70 or so pages. While feeling pretty good about that, I checked to see the total number of pages in the book: 770. That means I’ve only got 700 pages to go before finishing my first book of a 50-book challenge. I’m feeling challenged already.

How many books can you read in a year? Will you be doing a reading challenge? Do you know of any easy reads that should be added to my list?

Why Bother with New Year’s Resolutions?

Resolutions can be as silly and as short-lived as those noisemakers and hats that appear on New Year’s Eve. I usually end up forgetting any resolutions as soon as they’re made, but I like silly things so I keep making them anyway. They give me hope. They make me think maybe this will be the year…if I could just remember to keep at least one resolution.

I tried to think of fun things to add this time around. If the promise of fun and excitement doesn’t make me stick to these resolutions, nothing will. So here’s my 2013 list:

1. Publish my novels. This makes me laugh because it’s been a resolution for too many years. If I can’t find the perfect agent for traditional publishing, I’ll try a small press or I’ll self publish.

2. Learn how to play the fiddle. For some reason, I keep wanting to do this but then I keep forgetting, probably because of being preoccupied with #1.

3. Plant more trees. This should be easy to do because I haven’t planted many trees lately.

4. Move around more often (even if that means stepping away from the computer). This one should also be easy because I don’t move around much on a regular day. Since the usual “exercise more” resolution never seems to work, this is a downscaled version.

5. Laugh more often. Probably already accomplished after watching The Big Lebowski recently.

6. Learn Italian once and for all because it’s so much fun to say.

7. Drink more wine and eat more chocolate. That one could be hard to do but it would be fun to try.

I’ve been subjecting everyone to this blog for about a year now. Thank you all for visiting and especially for your friendship. The best part of this adventure has been meeting you. I hope everyone has a happy 2013 filled with much love and laughter.

Have you ever kept a New Year’s resolution? Did you make any resolutions this year? Does The Big Lebowski make you laugh?