The most common advice from authors for other authors about being successful is:
“Read a lot, write a lot.”
I’ve always believed this but I didn’t put it into practice until recently.
Last year I read more books in one year than the previous three years combined.
This year I set my 2018 Reading Challenge in Goodreads to 50 books.
Here is how I plan to do it:
First, continue to follow everything I did in 2017 to set a new reading record.
Specifically I will continue to:
- Track progress
- Read two books at a time (one fiction, one nonfiction)
- Consume less articles and less podcasts
- Get cheap (Amazon) and free (Overdrive library) eBooks and audiobooks
- Read books I like
To reach my new goal I need to finish about one book per week. Percentage-wise that means averaging 14% progress on books per day. Here are the changes I am going to make in 2018 to increase the number of books I read to 50:
- Daily Goal: 14%
- Morning Routine: 1%
- Lunch Routine: 1%
- Focused Nonfiction Reading: Create a list of pre-reading questions and seek to answer those questions and make relevant connections instead of just reading for fun. This may mean skimming certain parts of the book.
- Research Reading: Almost all of the reading I did last year was during my free time. This year I will add reading to my daily work schedule as research for my writing and for growing my business.
- Make Reading a Family Practice: I ended last year reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe with my oldest daughter. This is a really enjoyable practice and one that I want to continue to do with her, her sisters, and my wife this year.
- Read on the Road: I always read and listen to books a lot while traveling for speaking events, but I’ll need to be even more deliberate about reading in the car, airports, airplanes, and hotel rooms.
