2021 Reading Challenge and Bullet Journal

Stephen King has a lot of great advice for writers. One of his pearls of wisdom is, "If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot." So for this year, I wanted to read more books. Initially I thought I would set 52 as a goal for myself, so that's what I wrote in my bullet journal. But when I went to Goodreads to set my challenge, that wild, impulsive part of me entered the number 70 as a goal for the year.

I hadn't read as much as usual the past few years. Well, maybe I read a lot last year, but I wasn't keeping track. Hell, I was barely functioning. It was 2020. 'Nuff said. But before that, I hadn't read as much fiction as usual. So I wanted to push myself to read more (and consequently, get off social media more often).

Now, bullet journals were new to me last year. I considered starting one a few years ago, but when I looked at what they entailed, my brain started spinning, and I plugged my ears with my fingers and started saying, "Lalalalala, I can't heeeaaarrrr you!" I would just keep track of things on my phone, thank you very much.

But that phone calendar deletes stuff after a while. So I look back, trying to figure out when I did something, and... it's not there. But bullet journals are forever. Unless the house burns down. Ahem, pardon my anxiety talking. See above reference to the year 2020.

Some friends showed me that bullet journals could, indeed, be helpful for tracking things, and that they needn't be overwhelming, or done a certain way. They could literally track anything. Anything! So I went hog wild and made graphs for running (I just like graphs, okay?) and little squares to track my writing, and to track practicing kendo, and for meditation when I took that up last year (again, 2020, amiright?).

For this year, then, I made a pretty two page spread and drew in my own shelves, and 52 books with blank spines. It looked like a lot! I started questioning my impulsive decision to publicly announce my intention to read 70 books on Goodreads. But then I started filling in those spines. Each time, I had this little visceral reaction of satisfaction and enjoyment, much like collecting stickers from the teacher when I was in elementary school. This reinforced my desire to read, which reinforced my desire to not check social media quite so often.

I eventually ran out of space in my 2021 bullet journal because I messed up some pages and overestimated what I would need for some. That in itself is an accomplishment, the not freaking out about the journal not being perfect and exactly "as it should be." It's messy in some parts, pretty in others, and simply functional in still others. But the two page spread where I tracked books is among my favorite out of the entire journal. My filling in 52 spines coincided with my running out of room in this journal, which felt quite satisfying. And now I've started a new journal and a new two page spread for tracking books I've read.

Since I've already blown my original 52 book goal out of the water, I think I might possibly end up reaching that 70 book goal. I have to admit, some books have been consumed while doing errands, driving, etc on libro.fm, which, by the way, is a way to buy audiobooks while supporting local independent bookstores instead of that giant company with the passive aggressive smile on its boxes. I've also picked up some novellas along the way. But, to counterbalance the novellas, I've also read some doorstoppers, so it all comes out even in the end.