Challenge Instructions

[PAS, Moderator AC]

A. Introduction

Inspired by how we all like monthly surprises and tasks so here we are! I hope you'll like it 🤗💝

Official Start date of this challenge is January 1, 2021. Challenge will run up to December 31, 2021.

B. Goals & Plans

All participants will pick their own goals. These Goals are set for the year and apply for each month's round.

You may wish to nominate:
1. a number of pages
OR
2. a number of books
to read Per Month.

There is no minimum. This goal will be per Month and will be a static number. That is, if you've picked 1,000 pages or 4 books as your goal, it'll be 1,000 pages or 4 books for each monthly round.

In Addition to your individual Goal, there is also a monthly Plan. You may choose different Plans for different months.

Simple Plan: Meet / exceed your Goal

Completed Plan: Meet / exceed your Goal AND complete all 5 monthly tasks

Ultimate Plan: Meet / exceed your Goal AND complete all 5 monthly tasks with Random Letter Generator*

*Generate a letter per month and for that month, read book/s where title (exclude A, An, The) and/or author's first/last name begins with that letter

We aim for flexibility this year so if you've a busy month, choose Simple Plan, but if you're wanting that extra challenge, go for Ultimate Plan. You choose your Plan as monthly rounds are announced.

To Clarify, Goal is static and will stay the same from Month to Month but Plan is flexible and may differ from Month to Month.

C. Tasks

There are 5 tasks to be announced per Month. They will be announced a week before the 1st of the month to allow for some advance planning.

These tasks are pretty self-explanatory and once they are announced, they are open until the end of the challenge. You can read all tasks concurrently.

Note 1: Some tasks may be repeated from Month to Month so you cannot crossover books between Months. You can crossover within a Month's tasks.

Note 2: You do NOT have to do all 5 tasks if you choose Simple Plan. This means that you may choose whichever tasks that appeal to you to meet your Goal.

Note 3: You may repeat any task/s to meet/exceed your Goal.

[See Example in next post]

C. Completion

There is no limitation on planning and you may complete any Month in any order you like.

To claim Completion, please post in the Completed Month(s) thread

G. Housekeeping

1. Books per Month's tasks must be read after that Month's tasks are announced (ie. no backdating of books read)

2. A book can crossover within one (1) Month's tasks only (ie. no crossover between Months)

3. There is no page limit for books read.

4. Use the page numbers of edition you are reading in calculating your progress. If you listened to an audiobook, we will look at the most popular edition (whatever that is) for the page numbers. If there isn't a page number for that edition, we will use the next one down on the list and so on.

5.There will be planning threads set up for each Month. Please post your plan/s in the correct thread.

[PAS, Moderator AC]

EXAMPLE

Month X note that tasks are completely made up for purpose as example only

1. 3-words title
2. Female author
3. Series book > #1
4. MPG fantasy
5. Weapon on cover

Goal: 4 books (per month)

Simple Plan: 4 books to meet Goal. Skipping task #2
1. Past the Shallows
3. Rounding the Mark (Commissario Montalbano #7)
4. The Never Tilting World (The Never Tilting World #1)
5. The Wheel of Osheim (The Red Queen's War #3)

Completed Plan: 4 books to meet Goal with 1 crossover.
1. Past the Shallows
2. Past the Shallows
3. Rounding the Mark (Commissario Montalbano #7)
4. The Never Tilting World (The Never Tilting World #1)
5. The Wheel of Osheim (The Red Queen's War #3)

Ultimate Plan: Letter Generated Q
4 books to meet Goal with 1 crossover.
1. The Queen's Choice (Heirs of Chrior #1)
2. Quantum (Captain Chase #1)
3. Queen of the Flowers (Phryne Fisher #14)
4. The Queen's Choice (Heirs of Chrior #1)
5. Queen of the Darkness (The Black Jewels #3)


Goal: 6 books (per month)

Simple Plan: 6 books to meet Goal with a couple of repeats. Skipping task #2
1. Past the Shallows + The Lotus Eaters
3. Rounding the Mark (Commissario Montalbano #7) + The Lost Valley (The Tasmanian Tales #2)
4. The Never Tilting World (The Never Tilting World #1)
5. The Wheel of Osheim (The Red Queen's War #3)

Completed Plan: 6 books to meet Goal with 1 repeat.
1. Past the Shallows
2. Quantum (Captain Chase #1)
3. Rounding the Mark (Commissario Montalbano #7) + The Elusive Bride (Black Cobra Quartet #2) by Stephanie Laurens
4. The Never Tilting World (The Never Tilting World #1)
5. The Wheel of Osheim (The Red Queen's War #3)

Ultimate Plan: Letter Generated L (title / author's initials)
6 books to meet Goal with 1 repeat.
1. The Lotus Eaters
2. The Deceptions by Suzanne Leal
3. The Lost Valley (The Tasmanian Tales #2) + The Elusive Bride (Black Cobra Quartet #2) by Stephanie Laurens
4. The Lost Prince (The Iron Fey: Call of the Forgotten #1)
5. The Wheel of Osheim (The Red Queen's War #3) by Mark Lawrence

[PAS, Moderator AC]

***Sign Up thread is up, please note your interest & your goal for this challenge there!***


***January tasks have also been announced early due to the holiday season***

[Lauren]

If I want to do the simple plan but also use the letter generator (Simple Plan+), is that OK?

[Meg]

Question about letters... Is an initial ok? Eg can i use N.K. Jemisin for k?

[Dee]

for title - can we ignore A, The etc? if we are doing the letter option?

[Bea]

I am planning to do the completed plan with a goal of 4 books for January. I have pre-planned for tasks #2-4 (3 books) and each of those books are on a shelf listed in task #1. My understanding is that would make 3 crossovers within the month. Does that matter? Or am I limited to only 1 crossover each month?

[Tien]

Lauren wrote: "If I want to do the simple plan but also use the letter generator (Simple Plan+), is that OK?"

oh - one question I totally did not expect but yes, sure, you can :)

[Tien]

Meg wrote: "Question about letters... Is an initial ok? Eg can i use N.K. Jemisin for k?"

Sorry, Meg, we're just doing first / last (already stated in the rule) for this one ;)

[Tien]

Dee wrote: "for title - can we ignore A, The etc? if we are doing the letter option?"

Yes! These days I've kinda taken that as a given lol - maybe I should clarify that

[Tien]

Bea wrote: "I am planning to do the completed plan with a goal of 4 books for January. I have pre-planned for tasks #2-4 (3 books) and each of those books are on a shelf listed in task #1. My understanding is ..."

No limit on crossover; just make sure you meet your Goal & Plan :)

[Meg]

Tien wrote: "Meg wrote: "Question about letters... Is an initial ok? Eg can i use N.K. Jemisin for k?"

Sorry, Meg, we're just doing first / last (already stated in the rule) for this one ;)"

No worries. I was worried k would be super hard, but it's actually not too bad now that I've looked

[Lauren]

Tien wrote: oh - one question I totally did not expect but yes, sure, you can :)"

Thanks! :)

[Bea]

Tien wrote: "Bea wrote: "I am planning to do the completed plan with a goal of 4 books for January. I have pre-planned for tasks #2-4 (3 books) and each of those books are on a shelf listed in task #1. My under..."

I have one more task to plan,so one more book to choose (which will meet my plan). However, I need to wait until January to choose that book as it is based on the best book I have read this month.

Thanks for the help, Tien. Sometimes I feel so dense.

[Tien]

Nah, it's me... I like to complicate things :p

[Susan]

Tien,
Am I correct in assuming that it is not required that the books we choose for this be on our own TBR already?

[Tien]

Susan wrote: "Tien,
Am I correct in assuming that it is not required that the books we choose for this be on our own TBR already?"

correct!

[Bea]

This game might be a carryover game for me. I still have 5 months (12 books) to go to finish. Will aim at completing July, September, and October for sure (4 books).

[Lisette]

I went for an easy goal and so far I completed each monthly challenge within a month

Good luck Bea!

[Bea]

Lusie wrote: "I went for an easy goal and so far I completed each monthly challenge within a month

Good luck Bea!"

So did I, Lusie...only 4 books a month! However, I have also been working to complete old games in two groups. I have only 1 book left for an old game, so then I will focus on this one.

[Lisette]

Sounds like a plan! It's great how you keep focussing on old games until they are done.

[Lagullande]

Bea wrote: "This game might be a carryover game for me. I still have 5 months (12 books) to go to finish. Will aim at completing July, September, and October for sure (4 books)."

Don't worry. Bea. I'll probably still be doing this one in 2025!!