Got 'em? Post 'em. Be accountable, you shiftless layabout.
I'm looking to move sometime this year, so I want to read all the books on my bookshelf that I haven't gotten around to. That way I can leave behind everything I don't love dearly. If you're looking for Pete's version of the lifechanging magic of tidying up, it's moving every year. You get real sick of moving books you haven't read more than once.
It's a long list, but I'm getting started now with Yellow Birds, which has been on the shelf for 5 years.
Last year, I just wanted to read any 10 books. I got to 11, so I was pretty happy with that. I had a bit of a graduation hangover that kept me from reading for a while that year. It took six months or so before I had the mental energy for it. I'm hoping to get to 20 this year. Steadily making my way through all the German and Russian classics I've found perusing local used bookstores. I'll be fairly happy if I finish The Tin Drum, The Magic Mountain, and Doctor Zhivago. All of which are great so far.
Writing goals: finish the book I'm working on now, start and finish another. Write one short story a week. Write one installment to a Patreon serial a month.
Reading goals: one short story a day. 100 books in a year.
book deal with 6 figure advance
bethwenn: that's a good goal. I used to get really into Goodreads goals, but that's kinda dumb because reading a comic is a lot easier than reading a Russian novel. So now I set the goal at 5,000 (well, 4,998. I reduce it by one every year because I haven't made the goal). I'm only a few hundred books behind so far.
Max: do you have an outline for your Patreon serial thing? Or is it more like a rough thing with a see where it goes situation? It's a cool incentive for donors, and I'm curious how you're managing it.
Thuggish: Just remember your LitReactor buddies when it happens.
So far, in my reading goal, I finished Yellow Birds (pretty good), and read a manga, Black Jack, which is like a wacky version of House by Osamu Tezuka, creator of Astro Boy. It was silly and awesome. Plus a boatload of poetry. I bought a lot of poetry back in the day, and I'm working my way through. Best book so far is Places, Everyone by Jim Daniels. If anyone wants to read it, PM me and I'll send it your way. It's great stuff!
