1. Set a Personal Reading Goal
Challenge yourself a little in the new year. Don’t necessarily try to read more books, but to absorb more of the important things in the books you do read. Whatever your goal ends up being, keep it realistic and remember that it “isn’t about how many books you get through, but how many books get through to you.”
2. Make a list
You might have a dozen or perhaps a whole lot more book titles running around the back of your mind that you really should read at some point but never get around to. Along with your Personal Reading Goal, take some time to write a list of some of those books, and make it a point to check some of them off that list during this year’s reading challenge! This doesn’t mean you read every book on your to-read list, but keeping a list of books you want or should read gives you a chance to be more purposeful in your reading and to make sure you are reading a variety of good books that will help you to grow in the year to come.
3. Think deeper
Reading should be fun! It should also be a tool to learn new things, and to challenge us to personal growth and development. This means that you should consider adding some educational or heavier than a story book sort of reading material into your reading list for the year. I believe that fiction should be like a good dessert, taken sparingly, rather than our main course. One of the goals of this reading challenge is to encourage all of you to take time to evaluate and balance your reading habits in light of what will help you to face the demands of next year a better person for the things you’ve chosen to read in this year.
4. Honor God, above all
No matter what you choose to read–fiction, educational books, biographies or any other book– remember to put it to the test of what is appropriate for a follower of Jesus to be feeding their mind on.
5. Keep a list of every book that you read between January 1, and December 31
Keep track by month, and include at least the title and the author of each book read. Bonus points if you rate the book based on how much you enjoyed it/were blessed and write a couple line recap of the best part of the book!
( In the past, we’ve had prizes for the person who has read the most pages, and even though I’m not sure if I’ll be able to offer the same kind of prizes this year, I’m counting on your to keep your lists fair and honest just in case.)
A few other important things
-Join!
If you want to be a part of the current Reading Challenge, drop me a comment or an email with a link to your blog so that I can add you to our list of participants. Just remember that you don’t have to be a blogger to join in the challenge. If you don’t have a blog, you can follow along and leave comments or send me an email instead. If it is the middle of the year, and you’re just reading about the challenge for the first time, don’t worry! It is never too late to jump in.
- Participate!
One of the fun things about Reading Challenges is doing it together. Each month, I’ll be posting Reading Checkpoints, updating on my personal progress, and sharing a little about what I’ve been reading that month. You have the opportunity to interact with other members of the challenge by sharing a link to your own update, or commenting with thoughts about what you are reading.
If you are on twitter, you can follow me @springjoys and use the #ReadingChallenge2012 hash to tag your tweets about this year’s challenge.
- Share!
The more the merrier, right? If you’d like to share about this year’s reading challenge with your friends and family, you can grab the image code and use it on your blog or website, share a link to this post on facebook, by email or on twitter, or however you choose! Everyone is welcome to join, and since each one of you set your own challenge, it is really up to you how much you want to do.
<a href="http://blog.beautifulsong.com/tag/reading-challenge/" target="_blank"> <img src="http://blog.beautifulsong.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/reading-challenge-2012.jpg" border="0" alt="Reading Challenge 2012">
Sorry to tell you the button is still not working for me. For now I have copied the jpg and just added a link to the challenge label on your blog. If you do figure out why it won’t work for me let me know.
Debbie, I’m sorry! I’m not sure what would be causing that…because it seems to work for me! I went ahead and re-wrote it in case there was something small that my browser is overriding. Let me know if you try it again. :)
Yippee!!! it works now!!!! Thanks for trying again!
YAY!! It is amazing how one small thing can throw it all off. I’m glad it is working for you now! :)
I’m hoping to join! This seems much more doable than many blog events.
Wonderful! Looking forward to it. :)
What a good idea!
I haven’t paid much attention to your reading challenge in the past, but now it has gotten my attention and I’m keen to join in!
Oh, I would love to have you join us! :)
You know, I’d love to be part of this but I cant think of any books to read!!!! Suggestions?!