Tag Archives: Jacket Copy

Reading Resolutions?

It’s the time of year for resolutions or, as Jeff Goins writes at Zenhabits, for “sustainable habits.” If reading more is among your resolutions, one way is to join a reading challenge.

Words and Peace blog links to two dozen themed challenges. One that intrigued me is “Books Published in the First Years of My Life.” Sarah Reads Too Much is hosting the Back to the Classics Challenge, and Jillian at A Room of One’s Own hopes to read “books I started but didn’t finish” in 2012.

Last year I reached The Europa Challenge‘s Ami level by reading fourteen Europa Editions. Europa publishes “literary fiction, high-end mystery and noir, and narrative non-fiction from around the world.” I’ve enjoyed expanding my literary horizons, so this year I’m going for Cafe Luongo level.  Like many reading challenges, The Europa Challenge fosters discussion via its blog, Twitter feed, and Goodreads group.

Goodreads encourages members to define their own 2012 Reading Challenge.  Books On the Nightstand “12 in 2012” challenge participants also customize their goals, such as reading twelve books in a particular genre or twelve books they already own. Another challenge posted at Goodreads is “Around the World (in 52 Books)” which sounds daunting but very appealing.

If you’re just interested in making more time to read, emulate Ann Kingman. On Books on the Nightstand’s podcast #161, she mentioned her plan to read for an hour every morning.  “25 Literary Resolutions” at the Los Angeles Times’ Jacket Copy blog, includes time-related ideas. 

A habit I hope to form in 2012 is reading in tandem with my teen, who doesn’t want me to read aloud, but is amenable to the idea of reading and discussing the same book. She has also challenged me to re-read the Harry Potter books, which I am starting today.

What are your reading resolutions?

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The novelists of November

It’s Nov. 2, and I haven’t started writing a novel yet. During four previous Novembers I’ve been bent over my keyboard by now, trying to get off to a good start for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). The goal? A completed 50,000 word novel by the 30th.

What then? It depends. My NaNoWriMo novels are sitting in computer files, unlikely to ever make it to a bookshelf. What’s the point, naysayers ask?  As Carolyn Kellogg wrote in the LA Times Jacket Copy blog last year, there are worse ways to spend free time than writing a novel.

Completing a large writing project in a month is an exercise in discipline. It helps form an important habit, one Jane Yolen says is the secret to her productivity: “Butt In Chair.” NaNoWriMo is also good for creativity; there isn’t time to succumb to your inner editor.  And there’s a sense of camaraderie as thousands of people around the world work towards the same deadline.

These days, writing fiction could take your mind off famine, recession, war, and politics. Or in the Northeast, power outages and October snow. As I heard Professor Ralph Williams say at a post-film discussion in Concord two weekends ago, beauty (or in the case of NaNoWriMo, attempts at beauty) can help us deal with evil.

Need more motivation? Some November novelists take their manuscripts to the next level.  Writing for Chapter & Verse, a blog at the Christian Science Monitor, Husna Haq points out that two recent best-sellers, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen and The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, began as NaNoWriMo drafts.

Intrigued? You have most of November left to join NaNoWriMo. If you have no idea where to begin, check out Galley Cat’s excellent daily tips for NaNoWriMo. Today’s tip is one I endorse: visit the reference desk.

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