Your Strategy for the Challenge(s)

[Francesca]

I'm both glad and also feel kinda bad that I got you into the 'books featured in Lost' challenge! Glad because it means someone else is doing it too and bad because it means I gave you yet another challenge! How do you export the goodreads library? I had no idea you could do that! That would make things so much easier. I've actually done my spreadsheet slightly differently as in I've put each topic on a different tab and on each separate tab I've put the options for each topic. At the moment I've put in as many books as possible that fit the topic but I'll whittle it down eventually to just two or three books per topic to give myself options next year so I'm not constantly changing my plan.

[Sophie]

Here you find info on how to export your library: https://www.goodreads.com/help/show/5...

Don't feel bad, I loved Lost and I'm happy to do the challenge! I'm not putting any pressure on it though, I'm simply curious to see how long it takes me to read most of them (I won't force myself to read books I don't want to read).

[Francesca]

Sophie wrote: "Here you find info on how to export your library: https://www.goodreads.com/help/show/5...

Don't feel bad, I loved Lost and I'm happy to do the challenge! I'm not p..."

Thank you! I'll be doing that as soon as I get home! Yeah, I've come to the same conclusion as there are some books in it that I really have no interest in so I'll just stick to the ones I am interested in.

[Katie]

Why have I never thought to do my spreadsheet the way you mentioned, Sophie. It makes so much more sense than how I've been doing it. I just list all my tasks/prompts in one column, and then I type the book in the second second column next to the prompt it applies to. I have one tab that shows my "final" challenge list, one book per task. But I have another tab on my spreadsheet that shows my "total" challenge list, with all books listed under any/multiple tasks they apply to. It becomes a little of an unruly mess because some tasks may have one book, some may have 20. I want to go off & reconfigure my whole spreadsheet now!

[Rachel]

Now that we're all in the midst of planning, how are people planning on tackling (if at all) the rejects challenge? Are you doing all of the prompts, or just choosing a few? If you're doing the full list, how do you handle resubmissions?

[°~Amy~°]

I will most likely do what I did this year, wait until after I have completed ATY and popsugar and then pick a category of rejects to fill in whatever time is left. This year I chose to do all the character related topics. If there were resubmits in my chosen category next year, I would ignore them and only do each topic once.

[Jody]

I'm continuing on with the reject challenge! I'm adding new rejects to my prompt list, but not resubmission. I'm also removing any prompts that have been in challenges that I've done over the past two years.

[Sophie]

I'm starting with my top rejects (the ones I voted for but didn't make the list. I realized while writing them down on my plan that a few resemble our prompts (like "not set on earth" and "fictional location"). I haven't decided yet what I'm going to do with those. If I have time I'm going to tackle a few of the other rejects.

[Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod]

I'm really torn when it comes to the rejects list. I would love to complete both list but judging by this year, it just doesn't seem realistic. I've completed a handful of prompts beyond ATY but nowhere near enough to tackle the rejects in a reasonable amount of time. I may have to just create a drastically shortened version.

[Anastasia]

I am doing the Rejects or Discard Challenge. After removing prompts that are doubles, ones similar to ones that we did over the last two years or the same as next years just reworded, there is now about 50 prompts.

[Kirsten]

The challenges I decided on this year are numerous. Mainly I use it as a way to (1) keep my reading diverse and (2) cut down on my back log of books.

I'm not really prioritizing one challenge over another. However, I would like to finish the Popsugar one, but at this point I'm not holding my breath.

You can go here if you'd like to see my challenges and their status: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Rachel]

One of my goals with the rejects challenge is to finish several series, including ones that I started this year as part of my challenges. So far, this is what I have in mind/already placed into various prompts over both years' rejects lists:

1) Re-read Harry Potter!
2) Chronicles of Narnia (I know I read at least half of them, but I have no memory of several of the books)
3) Artemis Fowl - I've only ever read the first 2
4) Royal Diaries - I've read the majority, but would love to re-read. It's a middle grade series that was one of my favourites when I was younger
5) Baby-sitters Club Friends Forever - mostly for nostalgia purposes, but also because I read most BSC books but never this series even though I bought almost all of them from Scholastic
6) With the Light - manga series about living with a child who has autism in Japan. I've read several of them but the library didn't have the whole series.
7) Finish series that I started this year -- Lunar Chronicles, Shatter Me, Noughts and Crosses, etc.

I'm also a lot more flexible with the rejects challenge than I am with the main challenges. I still interpret that prompts quite strictly, but I'm a lot more likely to pick picture books, children's books, etc. that I wouldn't necessarily pick for the main challenge.

On the other hand, I also have quite a few longer books and classics mixed in there as well.

[Katie]

With the 2018 challenge starting in less than a week, is anyone interested in revisiting this post and discussing strategy for tackling the challenge in the new year?

In 2017, I did the challenge in order, so I always knew exactly what topic I had coming up. This year I'm going back to reading out of order, but I'm trying to figure out which book I want to start with. There are so many I'm excited about.

How do you decide where to start with your challenge?

[Brianna]

I'm planning on starting in order, but I know that it won't stay in order. lol

I tried to pick books I was most excited for so deciding which one to start with was hard. It was just easier to decide to start in order (and then see where the year takes me).

[Rachel]

I'm definitely not reading in order since I do multiple challenges. I've actually eased up on some of the rules I usually have for myself (ie. avoiding more than one book per author) since I'm prioritizing series next year.

[Anastasia]

Katie the library picked for me. I ordered books through ILL that came in faster than I thought. Those will be first on the challenge :)
Good thing I decided to jump around this year.

[Jody]

This year, I’ve decided to try to read in order again (even though I failed miserably last time!). I’ve given myself a bunch of options for each week already though and I’m always adding to them. I’m not looking too far ahead, so the books shouldn’t get stale, plus I’m doing other challenges which I can mood read more freely with.

[Tracy]

Trying to read in order but I have 4 challenges going for this year..... trying to keep myself out of trouble and so stay busy reading in all my spare time ;-)

My priorities are ATY and then the ATY middle grade/picture book list with ( or possibly /probably at least mostly without) my girls.

Next in line is Pop Sugar and last on my list of priorities is BookRiot ( the prompts irritate me every year)

I want to try and read in order- I've already started pulling aside all of the books needed for the first month and will work through them in order, if possible. I'm already running into some trouble with my selections because some of them (very few) are only available to me through the library,or, unfortunately, not at all, and so I've made some changes. I may reward myself for quitting smoking by allowing myself to purchase what I can't get my hands on though. *HUGE INCENTIVE*

I do have some side reads ( things I wanted to read on my plan this year that I didn't get around to ) and also, one other group which does 3 books a month. I was really active in that group two years ago and would like to participate more again this year.

UGH! This puts me at, like, 20-30 books a month which is totally unrealistic. I can do a book in 2 days, but not EVERY day. How on earth are people managing to read 200-400 books a year? How does that happen??

For the challenges with no side reads I'll be at 10 books a month, I think do-able. Plus one midgrade and one picture book. Also do-able.

If I add in the other group thats 11-13 books a month. I don't know about that.

Welp. No side reads for me.....But I'm super excited about my plans!!!
I'll probably start out with the strategy of following in order and then end up winging it.

A big goal for me this year is to participate more in the discussions for this group as I'm reading.

[MJ]

How do people read that much? I know a few who speed read and others who don't read every single word on the page. And then others listen to audio books on their commute (I walk or bike on mine, which is 1.5 hours minimum per weekday, and I don't want to have earbuds distracting me in traffic)

My strategy? Hahahah. This year life derailed me and I didn't pick up a book for a few months. I need to not do that! I also have more than one challenge, and I don't know how much I can overlap, and I'm not sure I'll finish any of them.

That being said: I have several LONG books so I need to start on one of those soon into the year so they don't get pushed into 2019 (like they did this year).

Strategy: intersperse short books with long books. Read more than one book at a time (I have a short attention span and sometimes I need to take a break from a particular book) Know that I need to read 13 books per quarter in 2018 just to keep on track with THIS challenge.

I will most likely head to a remote field station for two months this summer (again). This has derailed my last two ATY challenges because of luggage restrictions, heavy packs, not enough space for books, subfreezing conditions, and a "library collection" of books at the station that don't fit challenge prompts. I need to plan out my reading for those months better, because it means certain challenge derailment otherwise.

Goodreads sent out an email about shorter books this month or last month, and that actually helped. And since I am still behind on this year's challenge, I've been looking for easier reads and/or novellas to get me as close to finished as I can.

That's my sort of strategy. I wish I could get into audiobooks. That would help.

[edit] I don't read in order either. That would be torture.

[Ann]

I HAVE to read 12 to 18 books when they come up in book club, so they won't be in order. Since that is just two a month I will try and keep up with the "in order" also. Good Luck to me. Decided against the Book Riot this year as I don't like the prompts, but will definitely do the children's lists with grandkids.

[MJ]

Ann wrote: "I HAVE to read 12 to 18 books when they come up in book club, so they won't be in order. Since that is just two a month I will try and keep up with the "in order" also. Good Luck to me. Decided aga..."

I didn't like the book riot prompts either.

[Pam]

My strategy is to select books that fit multiple challenges. The Seasonal Reading Challenge has driven my selections the last 2 years, since each challenge only covers 3 months. Not this year, though. For 2018, I'm focusing on completing 4 smaller challenges: 1) Translated Lit, 2) 6 Random Travel countries, 3) O Canada!, and 4) 12+4 optional Sci-Fi (pre-selected books) and fitting THOSE reads into the 52 ATY plus others I have specifically chosen for 52 ATY. I track all of it in an Excel w/s with separate tabs for each challenge. With all of the planning that I do, I still tend to read whatever looks interesting at the time! The order that I read has to do with 1) the timing of library books coming in from holds, 2) random library finds, 3) timing of group or buddy reads in other groups, and 4) my mood. While there is a method to my madness, it still feels rather random! I do have my first 4 books ready to go: 3 of which are library books already checked out.

The last 2 years I have failed miserably at my 12+4 challenge so this year my plan is on the first of each month to start one of those books. Other than that, I don't set any rules for myself other than to have fun!

[Jillian]

For 2018, my main goal is to get caught up on several series. I have noticed that the long series books that I love to read hardly get read anymore. They don't fit into challenges very well so they have been getting sidelined for the past few years. So, I'm cutting back on yearly challenges and dropping PopSugar. I also want to read 24 non-fiction books. I plan to read few total books this year but more longer books. I'm also not planning books for easy for me and will fill them with a book that does not fit else where in the challenge.