Because I’ve been traveling for work a lot lately, I am way behind on my reading. As books and ARCs pile up in what we Flying Pig folks refer to as “towers of knowledge,” I find myself in need of a concrete, publicly accountable reading goal that I can rope fellow “behinders” in on. So I’ve created a Google spreadsheet called “Elizabeth’s May Book-a-Day Challenge,” and invite those of you with similar piles to join me.
Picture books count, yes, but otherwise, there’s no page-count grace given with the challenge, because there’s no page-count relief for the number of books waiting for us. The goal is one book per day. Period. And you can’t complain, either, because we’ve already had a week off; it’s already May 6 and I’m letting you off the hook for May 1-5.
Seriously, though, you can use the challenge any way that works for you. If it’s half-a-book-a-day, that’s fine. If it’s an audiobook every three days, you fly that flag. I’ve always been a quick reader, so I’m hoping one book a day is doable, especially if I disable Netflix and HBO Go on all of my devices. (House of Cards Season 4 will have to wait until June.)
The link to the May Book-a-Day Challenge is: http://ow.ly/4nuuij
You can add your name and fill in books once you’ve finished reading them. I’ll stay honest, too. If you miss a day, don’t worry. We’re all human (except for Kate Messner; I’m convinced she has cloned herself in order to accomplish as much as she does in a day).
This weekend, I’ll be snuggling up with Crystal Allen’s The Magnificent Mya Tibbs: Spirit Week Showdown, Kwame Alexander’s Booked, and Meg Medina’s Burn, Baby, Burn. What will you be reading this weekend? You can answer even if you aren’t taking the challenge. I’d love to know!
Elizabeth…I’ve signed up and ackchully have a headstart on you. I keep an annual spreadsheet on books I’ve read, and I usually do ‘clock-in’ at almost a book a day. But I’m having a problem with your spread sheet in that (IMHO) you haven’t allowed nearly enough space in the title area, so I’m afraid the numbering is going to get confused pretty quickly. I have my record arranged vertically rather than horizontally…possibly you might want to consider doing something similar? I separate by months and then arrange things like this:
Number Book Type Author Title Comments
You could substitute the date for the number column. Just a suggestion.
Hi, Ellie! The text is set to wrap, so any extra should be hidden by the next cell unless you click on it. (I can also widen that field a bit.) The number column is meant for people to add their names, so I can’t really arrange it the way I think you’re suggesting. If I’m misunderstanding, maybe you can set up a sample that would work for multiple people and send me a link so I can see what you mean. ebluemle at publishers weekly dotcom. Thanks for your comment!
Oh…well, you see re: the ‘wrap’ semi-computer literate folks like me don’t really know about that…to ‘click’ I mean. I have a book to add so I’ll give it a go and see what happens.
Elizabeth…I don’t know if you’ll see this or not, but I’m afraid I’m OUT of your Book Challenge due entirely to technical difficulties. My software is insisting (via a pop-up) that I resize my browser page…apparently yours is too big for whatever my present setting is…before allowing me any more access to the spreadsheet. I don’t know how to do this. Great fun while it lasted! IF you report results at some point, maybe I can check in again with my own results. I’m really sorry! I was enjoying following what you and everyone else were reading.