Yes, I know what you’re thinking. Another challenge? How do you have so much time? Well, I don’t, but I do. I’ll explain that in a minute. First, I want to tell you about my new challenge. It’s a reading challenge. I want to see if I can meet my goal of how many books I read this year. Am I being a bit crazy? Probably. Let’s talk about my new challenge.
A reading challenge
So, what is a reading challenge and what will it look like? It’s quite simple. The challenge is to read books. On one of my YouTube rabbit hole adventures I came across some people making book vlogs. Curious, I checked it out and it actually made me miss reading. One of the YouTube creators, Jaime Fok, talked about this app she had on her phone where she could challenge herself to read a certain amount of books per year. Seeing as it was free, I downloaded it as well. On the app you can set a goal. The goal I set is 50 books this year. I think that is attainable, but let’s see. I will also link Jaime’s channel below as she does some great book reviews without spoiling the book.
Are you Not busy enough?
Yeah, about that. I am busy, but at the same time, I’m not. I just said that I went down a YouTube rabbit hole. That basically means I was binge watching YouTube videos. I do mean, hours of sitting and watching people make goals for themselves and think, I should do something like that with my life. Then, I proceed onto the next video. If I have hours to watch YouTube videos, I have time to read a book. And 50 books, if you think about it, is not a lot of books a year. Well, not in younger Stephanie’s mind.
My history with reading
When I was a child I loved to read. It was my favourite hobby. There was actually one school year where the librarian at school and I became friends because I was in the library every day signing out a book. The next day I was returning it. If memory serves me correctly, I would sign out extra books on Fridays so I had enough for the weekend. My grade six teacher noted that I always had a book on my desk and if we were not doing anything, I was reading it. This love of reading is what inspired me to become a writer. I wasn’t a very social person as a child, so books were my best friends and got me through a lot of hard times. I could just open up a book and disappear into another world for a few hours. That’s what I hope to do with my books that I want to publish.
starting a reading challenge
I know I already have my water challenge and fitness journey, plus my blogs, writing a novel and working full time. It’s a lot, but if I manage my time correctly, I know I can succeed. I have books that I have been meaning to read but “don’t have time for”, so let’s make time. I could waste time binge watching YouTube and TV shows, or I could read a book and crush a reading challenge. Actually, if I remember correctly, February was always an “I love to read” month at school. It’s almost February. This was my favourite little challenge, though I don’t remember if I ever won anything. Strange. I’m also hoping that by reading more I can see what people are reading, enjoying, and get inspiration from other authors as well.
Who is with me?
A reading challenge might be a lot simpler for some of you than other challenges that I do. So, would you want to join? It doesn’t matter if you’re reading this in January, or later in the year. There is no such thing as starting late; just make the challenge work for you. For those who are interested in the app I’m going to be using to track my progress, it’s called Goodreads. I will link it below. The great thing about this app is you can invite your friends to join you. I know I’ll be doing that. Then you can see books they are reading, rating and want to read and maybe get inspiration or recommendations from each other. For those who struggle to read, audio books are a great way to read books as well. So, are you in?
https://www.youtube.com/@jaimefok
