Karen GoatKeeper's Blog - Posts Tagged "reading"

I don't like resolutions. They have this false feel to me. I will do this or that and when it doesn't work out, I failed.
Setting plans and goals is a better option for me. This way, when life happens, they can be amended or postponed.
For Goodreads I have a new book reading goal. Last year I tried for 40 and exceeded it for the first time in years. GR has been good for me. So next year I will try for 44 books.
The plan is to read three books from my own bookshelves and one library book each month. Books over 350 pages amend this plan due to time to read them.
For writing I have a goal of 5 books finished this year. Drafts are done for four so I think this is doable.
However, I do need to plan for next year too. So I want to complete three drafts to rewrite next year.
This year ends tonight. I wish everyone a great New Year. May it have many blessings for you. May you reach many of your goals for the New Year.

I don't like resolutions. They have this false feel to me. I will do this or that and when it doesn't work out, I failed.
Setting plans and goals is a better option for me. This way, when life happens, they can be amended or postponed.
For Goodreads I have a new book reading goal. Last year I tried for 40 and exceeded it for the first time in years. GR has been good for me. So next year I will try for 44 books.
The plan is to read three books from my own bookshelves and one library book each month. Books over 350 pages amend this plan due to time to read them.
For writing I have a goal of 5 books finished this year. Drafts are done for four so I think this is doable.
However, I do need to plan for next year too. So I want to complete three drafts to rewrite next year.
This year ends tonight. I wish everyone a great New Year. May it have many blessings for you. May you reach many of your goals for the New Year.

Time is a scarce commodity for so many people. I'm no exception.
One way to procrastinate doing those good marketing intentions is to use being short on time to move them off to the back of the 'To Do' list. After all, it takes time to create those posts. It takes time to learn how to do things like creating buttons and links, reading other people's blogs, reading marketing ideas and so much more research.
And then we wonder why so few people find out about our books.
Goodreads is a good place to start. Trying to connect with people who might find my books interesting is why I joined GR. And then I got sidetracked.
I love to read. I had let reading get moved to the back of the 'To Do' list and missed it. GR is a great way to get back into the habit of reading. I am so glad to again be reading regularly.
But that doesn't market my books.
Writers Digest to the rescue. There is a great article this month about doing a nice author profile on GR. It has some thought provoking approaches. Even better, it has a way to do buttons on the profile.
Time is still short. At least now I have a few new ideas and methods to try in the time I can find.

Normally I write about some aspect of writing involving me over the week. This time I'm writing about reading.
Writers should read widely. Seeing how other authors handle subjects, interest their readers and different styles can help improve writing styles.
This year I plan to tackle "A Sense of History" one essay at a time. It is a book of essays on American history.
Everyone took American history when I was in school. They still do. But that doesn't mean we learn much history.
When I was teaching science, my students asked me one day why I never gave them a day off. Strictly speaking I did, the last day of each semester.
This is what I explained: Missouri required them to attend my class 178 days a year. Out of that 178, two ended semesters, ten dropped for testing, six dropped for semester tests, six were half days. Assuming that 178 days was 178 hours [periods are usually less than an hour], that left me 154 hours to teach science.
The state standards wanted me to cover 20 topic areas. I had to cover a topic every 7 days.Each unit of science included reading, classwork, labs and a test.
My students never again wondered why we worked every day. And, when they got to college, they were ready to tackle the college science classes.
History has a similar challenge as do all subjects. So, I don't know a lot of history, only bits and pieces. I would like to know more.
This 800 pages + book covers so much American history I am barely familiar with. So this book will come up on my reading list and will sit there for a long time. But I hope to know some history by the end of the year.

No, this is not a new project. It is one started and abandoned due to a major plot glitch. The glitch is solved so now the project is on track, maybe.
Perhaps I am odd but the most important part of writing a book or paper for me is coming up with that first sentence. I jot down plot ideas. I make out character sketches. I map out settings. [And I didn't know I was a plotter? A bit dense perhaps.]
From these I can write a first rough draft but it feels flat. It struggles. Something is missing.
But my reading is that way too. The first paragraph is critical. It sets the tone for the entire book for me. If I like it, if it fits, I slide into the book and roll on through it.
This third book in the Hazel Whitmore series has the first half of a draft written. The opening is flat, dull. It's interesting and eventful but doesn't grab me, it doesn't fit.
Where do good first lines come from? I don't know exactly. Perhaps that is why they are so hard for me to come up with.
My first lines seem to require me knowing the plot outline, the characters and the settings. Somehow these meld together becoming a story. And there is the first line.
The one for the third Hazel book? "You will pay." Hazel held the note she found in her locker in her hand reading and rereading it.

I survived two used book sales with only a dozen new books coming home. It was hard to do.
There was the bag sale. Fill a bag for a dollar. There were hundreds of books to choose from. I gritted my teeth, tried to shed no tears and choose carefully.
And the first book I chose to read is a reward of itself in a way.
There is a history to this. A young man suggested I read "Hatchet" by Gary Paulsen. It is an excellent book, one of my favorites now. And the first in a series.
The book I found is the fifth in that series I didn't know about. That sent me to the library to find "The River."
My reading time is short. Yet this book is difficult to put down. The pages fly by.
Perhaps having to choose with care the new books I bring home is a good thing. This one has been a rewarding surprise.
Does this mean a certain book hoarder is truly reformed? Not a chance.

I love to read, a necessary adjunct to being a book hoarder in my opinion. I have no idea how many books I've read over my life. They definitely are not all listed on Goodreads as it would take far too long.
Choosing a book is a personal matter to me. I rarely read reviews. Why not? Book reviews are supposed to be so important!
The reason is the same I never liked literature classes. The teacher wanted the class to read the book and determine what the author had to say.
The author's theme does make a difference. But the theme is not why I read a book. I normally don't know the author who may well be long dead and from a time I know little about.
I read a book for what the book says to me. This may well be what the author had in mind. But it may not be even close.
My family is tall. I am not. It was the source of ridicule until I hated and resented who I was. Then I read this silly little adventure series by Isaac Asimov.
Each was an adventure on another planet in the solar system, totally outdated even when I read the books. What mattered was one of the main characters who was short and ridiculed yet defied the remarks, even used them to become stronger in his own identity.
The books were silly. They wouldn't rate very highly. Yet what they said to me was far more important and not anything Asimov had in mind when he wrote them.
If I had read the book reviews, I would have missed them.
I choose a book for what the description of the book says. Sometimes I choose a book based on what a friend tells me. Sometimes I even choose one from a review. I read the book for me.
This presents a problem for writing a review. Yes, I do write reviews as I know other people choose books differently than I do.
My reviews are not reports, not literary comments on what the author meant. They are a reflection of what I found in the book.
This puts me in a dilemma when I know the author. The pressure is to write a good review and enhance the standing of the author's book. This is a deception for those who may use my review to choose a book.
My solution is to start the book before listing it on my read shelf. If I don't feel I can honestly give it a good review, it is never listed. This is a rare occurrence as there are so many good books written by people I have the privilege to know. I wish I could read more of their books.
All I need is a decade or so to do nothing but read.

IN ANTIQUITY EVERYTHING WAS WRITTEN IN CAPITAL LETTERS NOTHING WAS DONE TO SEPARATE SENTENCES SO THE READER HAD TO PUZZLE THIS OUT WITHOUT ASSISTANCE
Then came the Middle Ages and, according to Oscar Ogg in The 26 Letters, two great innovations showed up. One was really from trying to copy books faster by hand. Lower case letters made their debut leaving capitals for beginning sentences and important names.
Then readers were blessed with punctuation. No longer did the reader have to decide when a sentence began and ended. Other aspects such as clauses and lists were easier to read.
The writer's nightmare began.
Exactly what comprises a sentence? When do you use a comma? What on earth is a semicolon?
Then there are those pesky sentence enders like exclamation marks and question marks. When is a sentence a question, not a comment or speculation? How many exclamation marks are too many?
Just when a writer thinks the rules are down pat, they change.
Editors are delighted. Punctuation is job security.

My library has a new arrangement making it part of a network of libraries letting their patrons borrow books from any of the participants. This is great for those living in a small town.
My personal library is filled with old books found at used book sales. New books are a rarity.
Yet I look at the new books finding some I would like to read but can't as there are no copies in my library or the town library.
This was true of "Quiet". Until I found I could get an audio copy the book was doomed to molder on my "Want To Read" list.
This is an interesting book if a bit long and dull at times. Maybe extroverts never wonder why they are the way they are. Introverts do and want to know why they are different.
Why do I feel like my brain is fried after a day in town and need to go walking or hole up for a time when I get home?
Why does putting book ads in a goat magazine try to trigger a panic attack?
Why do I enjoy sitting alone working on my computer in a made up world?
Why do I have to pretend to be on stage to make a speech or teach a class?
Because I'm evidently an introvert, a normal everyday garden variety of introvert.
It does make the political circus more interesting as the classic extrovert Trump goes up against the classic introvert Clinton. So many things make more sense with this approach.
I wonder how many more of my "Want To Read" list can be found this way. I will have to check next time I want a new book to read. Three at a time seems to be my limit.

Each year my number of books on the Reading Challenge edges upwards. Each year I amaze myself by reading that number of books and then some. This year I have finished a bit early and it's time to celebrate!
Now, my celebration will be different. Each year I try to read longer, more adult fare to meet the Reading Challenge. Every time I add a book to my read shelf, it is automatically counted toward that challenge so I avoid adding picture books and similar young reader books.
Now my challenge is met. My restrictions are off. Picture books, here I come!
I'm glad too because November approaches with my NaNo challenge. Reading takes a back seat that month.
All that aside, I will continue to read my normal books. Maybe I will even stretch myself to read some of those longer books I otherwise avoid as I often only read 20 pages a night.
Now, where did I put that list of picture books I've been browsing?