I’m a little overdue for an update on 2018 goals…because life is busy! And it’s because life is big and complex that I’ve widened my focus this year beyond only reading challenges.
My first, biggest, and most consuming goal is to get married! The wedding is just over a month away, and most of the plans are all in place. My bridal shower was on Saturday, and all the last pieces are coming together. I kind of get now why people run away to Vegas (it’s so much less time-consuming!) but I’m still glad we haven’t.
Reading challenges still continue. I’ve been focusing a lot on Newbery Medal winners, and they’ve actually been a big chunk of what I’ve read so far this year. I’m up to eleven, putting me about halfway through the year’s goal. I also got through the juggernaut, first-ever winner, The Story of Mankind, which ought to count for three all by itself. And happily, it was a better read than I expected.
- Onion John by Joseph Krumgold (1960)
- Amos Fortune: Free Man by Elizabeth Yates (1951)
- The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox (1974)
- The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill (2017)
- Hitty: Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field (1930)
- Gay-Neck: The Story of a Pigeon by Dhan Gopal Mukerji (1928)
- The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pene du Bois (1948)
- The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Willem van Loon (1922)
- Shadow of a Bull by Maia Wojciechowska (1965)
- Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham (1956)
- Rifles for Watie by Harold Keith (1958)
My second reading challenge was (for the third year in a row) to try to read more books with minority hero(ines). I’m afraid I have not done particularly brilliantly here, though a few Newbery Medals overlapped into this challenge. So far I’m at four; with a goal of 18, that’s not terrible, but I’d definitely like to put more focus here in the rest of the year!
- North of Happy by Adi Alsaid (Mexican)
- Amos Fortune: Free Man by Elizabeth Yates (African-American)
- Gay-Neck: The Story of a Pigeon by Dhan Gopal Mukerji (Indian)
- Shadow of a Bull by Maia Wojciechowska (Spanish)
Writing goals are continuing too and I’m feeling good about them. My first goal is to complete volume one of my Phantom of the Opera trilogy. I spent the first two and a half months of the year working on revisions that I think really polished up the story, and then sent the draft out to beta-readers. It’s currently with them, and I’ll resume revisions after I get it back, probably after the wedding.
I haven’t worked on volume two of the Phantom trilogy yet, because I want to finalize the first book first, so that writing goal will be later in the year.
In the meantime, I’m working on my goal to write three short stories, and have finished a first draft of one. It’s a short bit of fun with superheroes, which I’m bringing into my writing group to help me decide what, if anything, I might do with it. And if it stays just a bit of fun, I’m good with that.
I’d really like to complete some goals, but we are, after all, only a quarter of the way into the year…and this was a good reminder that strong progress is happening at least!
Do you have reading or other goals for the year? How are they going so far?
Well done Cheryl for the progress you’ve made in your reading and writing, and I hope all goes well for your wedding 😀
My main goal this year is to continue to make time for re-reading old favourites and reading new-to-me books by favourites authors. I have also made a new Classics Club list. 🙂
Congrats on your upcoming wedding! Hope your month is as un-stressful as possible, all things considered. 🙂
I want to read 60 books this year and so far have read 22. I planned on about 5/month to reach that goal, but had a really good March, where I read (or finished from February but counted them in March) nine books. So I’m ahead of my goal so far. However, in June and October, I have some trips planned and I think I will probably do less reading during those months. We’ll see . . . Planes are a great place to catch up on reading. 😉