Happy New Year! Here we are in 2024 and I’m starting a new year of Reading Challenges. As we writers are exhorted to read, and read widely, to improve our own writing skills, I thought it was fair to combine this month’s post with my challenge update!
This is my Insecure Writers Support Group post, in which we share our successes and failures as writers, our insecurities, in fact. Anyone can join in, just sign up at the IWSG Sign-up page, write a blog post on the first Wednesday of the month, and go back to that sign up page to link with everyone else–or a goodly sample. Our host is Alex J Cavanaugh, and cohosting this month are:
Joylene Nowell Butler, Olga Godim, Diedre Knight, and Natalie Aguirre!
Does reading help my writing?
Really, I’m not sure. I admire certain turns of phrase; I notice beautiful (or odd) descriptions, especially of places or mundane things (when they are needed). I do learn something from reading other people work, as I could tell when I re-read my Princelings series in September.
But really, I think it makes me more insecure as a writer if I compare my writing with others. Okay, sometimes when I’m in a good mood, I can say, yes, my writing is just as ‘good’ as this. Maybe one should learn, but not compare. What do you think?
Reading Challenges
I read a lot of books last year, but not many from autumn onwards. I was burnt out. Apparently I only got to 66 in all, and I thought I’d be over 70. It’s partly that I didn’t read much over Christmas, when I usually get through three or four. I didn’t need to, so I didn’t. Having read pretty much non-stop from February through to July, I had met most of my reading challenges by September, and eased up a bit — oh yes, by rereading seven of my own books! Although I did save the J of the Alphabet Soup Challenge till late.
I’m doing the same Challenges this year, and I’ll be posting the 2024 challenge pages for Finishing the Series, Alphabet Soup, and Mount TBR in a week or two. I’ll just give the challenge owners time to get to my summary (all completed this year) if they want to! The sign-up linky for 2024 SpaceTime Reads is on the 2023 page and will switch seamlessly in due course (ho-ho). The Non-Fiction Adventure continues for another four years yet (100 books in twelve years is my target).
Question of the month
Do you follow back your readers on BookBub or do you only follow back other authors?
IWSG Jan 24
Well… I am on BookBub. But I don’t do much with it. I didn’t know I could. Maybe I should investigate. BookBub may be rather safer social media than others I no longer frequent.
In fact my new years resolution (if I have one) is to become more active again online, even if only visiting other blogs and leaving at least a like, if not a comment. But this does have a physical cost, so if I only visit you once every few months, please forgive me.
Do you like Reading Challenges? What’s your favourite one?
I love to read and am reading more these days in lots of genres. I think it helps my writing but I mainly read for the joy of reading a good book. I’ve never done reading challenges. I don’t want to pressure myself to read a certain number of books in a year. I hope you connect with your blogger friends more this year.
I mainly use BookBub to post reviews, not to engage with others 🙂 As for reading challenges, I’m doing an A-Z of book reviews in April!
Ronel visiting for IWSG day An Author’s Goals for 2024
Hey Ronel,
Do you mean you are reading for Arlee Bird’s A to Z April blogging challenge or is it something you are talking about?
If you are talking about what I think you are talking about, do share your blog link for me to follow you. I also participate in those challenges and since last two years I have been participating as a technical writer with my blog deeptechwriter.wordpress.com
Do share your blog link.
Happy Reading.
I don’t do much with BookBub either.
That’s still a good amount of books read in 2023.
My reading fell way off this year, continuing a trend for the last few years. I have some thoughts about why, and I’m gently pushing myself to read more new stuff and find new authors. I’m not sure how I feel about challenges, since I’ve been missing the targets pretty consistently.
As for BookBub, I’ve never even been there.
Just saying hi – unable yet to comment on Book Bub, because I haven’t been there yet.
Writing challenges ? This year, I hoped to make headway with NaNoWriMo,, but November was complicated. The Proust challenge has been suggested, again, but Ulysses is probably a better bet. Why make reading into a literary marathon des sables ? The book I aimed to rewrite in November ? In hindsight, lots of progress, including a radical change of location, so not a total failure.
I’ve been so busy, I haven’t much time to read. I try to carve out an hour in the afternoon and a half hour or more before bed. My folks always read in bed, so I got the habit!
I don’t do reading challenges. In fact, I dislike challenges of any kind: I never win. But I like reading. I just checked my stats on GoodReads” I read 133 books in 2023, and that not counting all the re-reads of my favorite books I don’t mark there.
I’m the same with BookBub. I’m on it and that’s something, I guess.