There hasn't been much press coverage about this, but apparently there's a presidential election this year in the United States! I know, I also was shocked when I realized this, because it has in no way dominated the national conversation for months, even though the general election isn't until November 8th. Not to worry though, because I'm sure that the 230 days between now and Election Day will pass by easily and peacefully and we'll all be free from constant anxiety and fear that the U.S. could do something REALLY DUMB like elect Donald Trump as President.
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So listen. I can't control what happens in this election beyond canvassing and contributing to the Get Out The Vote campaign of whichever Democratic nominee wins the party's nomination and then voting for him or her on November 8th (along with the down ballot Democratic nominees in my state and city). But what I CAN attempt to control is how I spend the next eight months of my life, and how quickly the time passes. Barring the ability to put myself into a coma-like stasis until November 9th and waking up to discover that the country did in fact vote for four more years of a president who doesn't terrify me, my best bet is to give myself incredibly ambitious deadlines for projects that only matter to me, for pride. Because I don't know about anyone else, but nothing makes time go by faster for me than a looming deadline staring me in the face.
I have a couple of different projects in the pipeline to get me through this year, but the one this blog focuses on is BOOKS. I currently have 132 unread books in my possession, either in paper or e-book form. There are 230 days between now and Election Day 2016, or just a bit short of 33 weeks. My goal over the next 33 weeks is to read all 132 of those books, or four books per week.
This is ambitious but also possible: I am a fast reader, and at least 40 of those books are novellas or romance novels or YA novels, all of which I can read at a much faster clip than nonfiction or many other kinds of novels. However, a fair number of them are also books which will be more or less impossible for me to read in less than a week, given that I have a full-time job and am also working on writing my own novel this year. (We all deal with stressful national elections in our own special ways, okay.) So each week I'll need to read both shorter, faster books over a day or two while also chipping away at longer and/or more challenging reads.
I am also giving myself permission to stop reading any book after a hundred pages if I'm not enjoying it; the purpose of this challenge is to get through my to-read pile, not to punish myself for a book I bought years ago and have never read. I will also be reviewing each book I read (or abandon) and giving them a letter grade.
Also, the starting point of 132 books already includes seven books that haven't been released yet but which I know I will be buying and reading, but the odds that I will go eight months without buying unanticipated additional books are as low as I hope the GOP's odds of winning this November are. Hopefully I can limit the number of additional books bought, or keep a book wishlist and then go on a huge buying spree post-Election Day to celebrate :D
I think that's it! Tomorrow I'll be posting the list of all 132 books I will be attempting to read between now and November 8th, and after that I'll need to get reading. /o/
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So listen. I can't control what happens in this election beyond canvassing and contributing to the Get Out The Vote campaign of whichever Democratic nominee wins the party's nomination and then voting for him or her on November 8th (along with the down ballot Democratic nominees in my state and city). But what I CAN attempt to control is how I spend the next eight months of my life, and how quickly the time passes. Barring the ability to put myself into a coma-like stasis until November 9th and waking up to discover that the country did in fact vote for four more years of a president who doesn't terrify me, my best bet is to give myself incredibly ambitious deadlines for projects that only matter to me, for pride. Because I don't know about anyone else, but nothing makes time go by faster for me than a looming deadline staring me in the face.
I have a couple of different projects in the pipeline to get me through this year, but the one this blog focuses on is BOOKS. I currently have 132 unread books in my possession, either in paper or e-book form. There are 230 days between now and Election Day 2016, or just a bit short of 33 weeks. My goal over the next 33 weeks is to read all 132 of those books, or four books per week.
This is ambitious but also possible: I am a fast reader, and at least 40 of those books are novellas or romance novels or YA novels, all of which I can read at a much faster clip than nonfiction or many other kinds of novels. However, a fair number of them are also books which will be more or less impossible for me to read in less than a week, given that I have a full-time job and am also working on writing my own novel this year. (We all deal with stressful national elections in our own special ways, okay.) So each week I'll need to read both shorter, faster books over a day or two while also chipping away at longer and/or more challenging reads.
I am also giving myself permission to stop reading any book after a hundred pages if I'm not enjoying it; the purpose of this challenge is to get through my to-read pile, not to punish myself for a book I bought years ago and have never read. I will also be reviewing each book I read (or abandon) and giving them a letter grade.
Also, the starting point of 132 books already includes seven books that haven't been released yet but which I know I will be buying and reading, but the odds that I will go eight months without buying unanticipated additional books are as low as I hope the GOP's odds of winning this November are. Hopefully I can limit the number of additional books bought, or keep a book wishlist and then go on a huge buying spree post-Election Day to celebrate :D
I think that's it! Tomorrow I'll be posting the list of all 132 books I will be attempting to read between now and November 8th, and after that I'll need to get reading. /o/
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