The Joy Of Reading Challenges Is Reading: All About The Participation Trophies

I fishy my obsession with speechmaking challenges started with different obsession: organization. In August of 2014, I began tracking my speechmaking successful a cherished spreadsheet. Looking astatine my archetypal entry, Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior, I studied overmuch of the well-loved, antecedently owned transcript connected my dearest’s structure successful Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. So galore years person unspooled that I’m uncertain whether the marginalia belongs to maine oregon idiosyncratic else.

As the sheets accumulated, I watched the titles collect. I conjecture this maturation sparked a small affable contention with myself. Since 2014, my yearly speechmaking grounds has risen. It has climbed gradually, by 8 books successful 2017 and 2021, and exponentially, by 55 books successful 2019 and 57 successful 2020.

Four years ago, I joined Goodreads and entered their speechmaking challenge. A situation I ever win, but I didn’t cognize that then, my occurrence inspires the adjacent year’s goal. In 2018, I work 52 books, truthful I acceptable my 2019 extremity to 53 and work 107 titles. In 2020, I announced a extremity of 104, a hopeful 2 titles a week. After surpassing it, I aimed for 156, 3 titles per week, and work 164. In 2021, I wanted a comfy but hard goal, truthful I searched for a cleanable number: 143 due to the fact that I emotion you. I work 172. In 2022, I pledged 143 again. When I eclipsed it, I upped my extremity to a fig that felt untouchable: 200. I work 213.

Last year, a spectacular 1 for reading, I opened with Craft successful the Real World by Matthew Salesses, sticky flagging “writing” and “revision exercises” I wanted to revisit successful the Appendix. I closed it retired with Bluest Nude by Ama Codjoe connected New Year’s Eve, speechmaking and rereading “After a Year of Forgetting.”

Little did I know, portion choosing my archetypal Goodreads extremity successful 2019, that I would butterfly into a speechmaking challenge-obsessed bibliophile. That year, I discovered and fell successful emotion with The Sealey Challenge, founded by writer Nicole Sealey. Whether participating for a azygous workweek successful 2019 oregon completing the 31 books successful 31 days successful 2020 and 2021, each August — adjacent if it took other clip to decorativeness those 31 titles successful 2022 — feels similar a success. The delight lies successful reaching for poems each day, successful witnessing others turning to and sharing poesy books, learning of new-to-me poets and poems, seeing acquainted names and titles speckle and swarm societal media feeds.

Last January, I vowed to balance fiction, nonfiction, and poesy better. (In my caput and this essay, a extremity positive a deadline equals a speechmaking challenge.) In 2021, I work 171 books: 74 poetry, 67 fiction, and 30 nonfiction titles. Of those 213 books successful 2022, I work 103 fiction, 74 poetry, and 36 nonfiction titles. From chapbooks to full-length collections, poesy made up 35% of my reading. Reviewing that literate extremity for 2022, I measured poesy right.

Even though I failed to equilibrium prose arsenic good arsenic poesy (fiction entailed 48% of my 2022 reads, and nonfiction 17%), I inactive leafed done six much nonfiction books than the erstwhile year. I inactive moved a bookmark guardant successful an essay. I inactive longingly gazed astatine an in-progress memoir connected my nightstand. I inactive pondered which nonfiction rubric I would tackle next. I inactive bought and borrowed nonfiction books.

On the archetypal of December, inspired by Rioter Liberty Hardy, I piled my “Ten Before The End,” a situation created by Brett Benner wherever participants sanction 10 titles they privation to get done by December’s end. Only, I — whoops — stacked nine. I judge I reserved a spot for a publication en way — The Symmetry of Fish oregon Black Women Writers astatine Work, edited by Claudia Tate — and snapped a representation earlier adding it due to the fact that my end-of-the-year encephalon noticed the vacation bouquet blooming.

Despite failing to decently compile my 10 titles successful those frazzled past breaths of 2022, reasoning astir my literate hopes for the remainder of the year, which writers I yearned to walk clip with, and the pages I wanted to savor earlier the disco shot dropped astatine midnight brought maine joy. Counting Su Cho’s debut collection, I devoured 7 of the ten: Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au; Alejandra Pizarnik’s Extracting the Stone of Madness, translated by Yvette Siegert; It Won’t Always Be Like This by Malaka Gharib; The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes; Jamila Rowser’s Wash Day Diaries, illustrated by Robyn Smith; and Irene Solà’s When I Sing, Mountains Dance, translated by Mara Faye Lethem.

Throughout the year, I announcement gaps successful my speechmaking and the books collecting connected my shelves, skyscrapering successful corners, past determine connected an yearly resolution. Every month, I prime a rubric aligned with that focus. Last disco shot drop, I promised to walk much clip with translated literature, and the disco shot driblet earlier that, genre fiction. This disco shot drop, I mean to ore connected abbreviated stories.

In summation to yearly homework, I, according to whims and work, delegate myself monthly homework and study the results, a premix of victorious strikethroughs and the goals that got distant from me, to my accountability group. A 2022 sampling: probe for essays; publication nine selections; room borrows astir due; ARCs with approaching work dates; autumnal reads from The Women Could Fly by Megan Giddings to The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas; and caller releases.

On December 10, I completed my Goodreads Reading Challenge for the 2nd time, bosom gleeful arsenic a blessed barrage of bookfetti celebrated my speechmaking success. A caller idiosyncratic best! Instead of establishing a 3rd extremity for the remaining 21 days, this Virgo fto the bookfetti settle, reflected connected 2022, and planned ahead.

If you find yourself speechmaking challenge–obsessed oregon -interested, see exploring Poetry Challenges To Enrich Your Reading Life by yours truly, Book Riot’s 2023 Read Harder Challenge, What I Learned Reading an Awards Longlist for the First Time, and Why I’m Obsessed With My Goodreads Reading Challenge Tracker.