Romance Readers Reading Challenges discussion
2011 Challenge Archive
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Challenges for 2011: Cutting Down, Staying the Same or Moving Up?
I'll start.I've been doing challenges for two years now. I love reading challenges. This group is testimony of how much I enjoy reading and meeting goals. However, it is also my philosophy that if a challenge is not fun, there is no point in doing so.
2011 will be an interesting year for me. I'm preparing to do a major move sometime this February. As most of you know, my father died last year, leaving my mother on my own. Being an only child, my husband and I had decided that we will go and be with her. So, I will be relocating to the Philippines this year, and this will have a major impact on my reading habits, including the loss of access to a major public library system. :(
I will be cutting down on my reading challenges this year. Challenges I intend to continue would include Pick-It-For-Me, Featured Author, and Read-the-Season. I will also pick books from the Random Book List challenges. I will also work on the yearly ones, like the A-Zs.
Maybe when I get settled further in the year, I can pick up where I left off.
So how about everyone else? What are your challenge plans for this year?
I was just thinking about this very thing this past week. I've been doing challenges for almost two years. I did different ones and then found my grove with quarterly and yearly ones. The past six months or so I started to get bored with them and there were quite a few I became uninterested in finishing.
This year I wanted to try some new challenges so that I can get into them and excited about them again. They were fun and I want it to be fun. I think I just need something different instead of the same old thing, change up my routine.
Wow, you are brave. Relocating halfway around the world will certainly be an adjustment. Best of luck to you.Your challenge group was one of the things that attracted me to GR. I will try to do the monthly, the PIFM, and the FAC. Beyond that, I'll pick something every now and then but that's it. Oh and the 200 book annual challenge - but that's more a goal than a challenge.
Photojim wrote: "Wow, you are brave. Relocating halfway around the world will certainly be an adjustment. Best of luck to you.I'm okay, since I grew up there, and have only been here in the States for 8 years. That should apply to my husband, who had never lived outside the U.S. He is the one who will have to go through major culture shock. : )
Always happy to hear that people are enjoying the different challenges being offered in the group.
Yz, it's definitely this group that keeps me coming back to goodreads every day (sometimes more than once a day). I started doing the challenges back when you created the monthly challenge in the Paranormal Romance group. I don't know when that was, but that's what got me hooked. I love seeing all the new and creative challenges you and others come up with.2010 was not a good reading year for me (and 2011 is trying to give it a run for it's money already), but I did manage the yearly challenges as well as read the months and a few pick it for me's. Before this thread was even started, I had already decided to just stick with the the yearly A to Z and read the month/season challenges. I am also going back to where it started for me and I am making the PNR monthly challenge a priority this year.
Good luck, Yz, in your move and new start! Hope all goes smoothly!
@ MelissaThanks. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that everything will go well. Pretty daunting at the moment.
Well, 2011 PNR challenges will include 6 old favorites and 6 new ones. I think you will enjoy the offerings for 2011.
I'm a complete challenge junkie...otherwise I tend to stare at my books and spend more trying to decide what to read next than actually reading...I'll prob stick to the monthly challenge, the pick it for me and the read the month/season...others as they look interesting...I've really gotten hooked with the huge seasonal reading challenge in another group as well as the read around the world/ around the us challenges
I wish you well in your new location.I did none last year , my first at Goodreads, this year I am going gung ho. Including read my years ...1946 - 2014 because I will have 3 years to read my years. I am almost done with the research and have a great deal of the books on my shelves. I am so happy to have goals that will make me read and enjoy my library.
@ DeeWell, your GR name tells it all. : )
@ ShirleyWelcome to the crazy addiction of reading challenges. A Lifetime of Books Challenge is quite daunting, so I wish you the best of luck. Have fun hunting and reading your books. :)
I think I will be slowing down a little this year. for 2010 I had to many gonig at once and then didn't finished most of them. I'm going to stay with the AtoZ and reading the seasons, something that I don't have to rush to finish. I like to read and a challenge should be fun and last year it was more like work to get them done on time.
Last year wasn't my first year to GoodReads, but it was the first year I became really "active". Like others, it was noticing the PNR group and following Yz to other groups like this one that got me where I am today. A challenge and GR addict!I entered almost every monthly challenge at PNR and RRRC last year, some having read all 10, some only one. At first I was determined to do all 10 every month but realized that it led me to rush read, and not really enjoy the journey of reading. Now I realize that a lot of the fun is just putting the book lists together and if I manage to read some of it, great and if not it's no big deal.
For 2011, I plan to continue signing up for monthly and yearly challenges but not expect to finish. I really want to concentrate on expanding what it is I read since last year I mostly read PNR, UF and YA titles. And while I love them, they are starting to blend together and I want to be able to enjoy them but other things as well.
I'd also like to try to write a review for everything I read. Having that time to concentrate on a book and what I took from it is important. I want more of those moments of introspection instead of rushing to the next title. I'm so glad that GoodReads, Yz and the PNR and RRRC groups has got me back into one of my favorite hobbies! :)
Delicious Dee Challenge Addict wrote: "I'm a complete challenge junkie...otherwise I tend to stare at my books and spend more trying to decide what to read next than actually reading..."Exactly! I'm the same way though my challenges get a little screwed up since I also sell my books and have to read what I sell. I can usually include them in a challenge but not always.
In 2010 I pretty much choose every category even the ones I wasn't interested in. So the only real change this year will be to skip those categories that aren't of interest.
I expect to read even more than last year since I got hooked into farmville/farmtown and didn't have as much time to read. Though I must say I still read 293 books in 2010.
Hope the move works smoothly for you.Since this is the first full year I'll be doing it, I'm still enthusiastic about them.
So my first challenge was in 2009 with the Twiligh Moms group. It was to read 100 books in one year. I surpassed the 100 book mark in August and then fell of the face of the GR world. I did the last few challenges of last year, Rhage's challenge and the Heaven and Hell challenge from the BDB group.This year I have commited to 5 yearly challenges, 1 quarterly challege, 1 half-yearly challenge and 3 monthly challenges. I like that I can cross challenge and that audiobooks count too.
I'm a newbie to challenges, and just picked back up on reading after almost 18 years. So far, I think challenges are lots of fun, and they allow you to meet people with like interests. It also forces me to read different genres of books, not stay only in my favorite (romance/erotic). I started off with two different challenges for this year, and am sure I won't have a problem completing them. :)
I've been a member of goodreads since September '10. I am moving up in challenges. I am doing the monthly, season, a-z book title, and Create-your-own challenges. My goal is to read 150 books. So if I finish those challenges, maybe I will go for another.I am far from burnt out right now, and am really looking forward to getting some of these books out of my tbr pile!
Good luck with your move Yz!I have been on GR almost a year now, and I still love the challenges. I usually do the monthly, season, a-z book title, featured author, pick-for-me, and a few other dare challenges that are always creative and fun. Like Dee, I do the seasonal challenge but will never accumulate the number of points she does! I also do 1 or 2 challenges at the SOS group. Wow, this all sounds like I have a lot of time on my hands! Really, I just love to read, and this group is my absolute favorite!
Good luck with your move Yz :) I really like doing the challenges b/c it motivates me to read more. I'm taking it slow this year. We'll see how it works.
I've added a lot of new challenges from all sorts of groups. I love it. I try to finish each one and am not always successful but it's still really fun to do.
Ashley...I love that you are going to try to write a review for everything. I have often thought I should make myself do this. I find other people's reviews very helpful and fun. When it comes down to actually typing my own review, I get a bit overwhelmed for some reason and end up not typing anything. What about everyone else? Do you write a review for some or all? Just the really bad or the really good? Short or detailed?
depends on the book...if its one that i'm reviewing an ARC for netgalley for, I tend to write a more indepth review than one i've just read for fun...plus it depends on the feelings that the book evokes...KWIM
Melissa wrote: "Ashley...I love that you are going to try to write a review for everything. I have often thought I should make myself do this. I find other people's reviews very helpful and fun. When it comes d..."You know, I set out this past year trying to and I probably got about a third of them done. There were some that I just didn't have a ton to say about and other times where I just got too busy and by the time I set out to do it I didn't remember a ton of details. (More because I read too many of the same genre and the tend to blend.)
We'll see how far I get...but I'm gonna try!
When I joined GR, I have to say that I wasn't particularly interested in reading challenges because I'm a fickle, moody reader and I rarely read what I've planned to read. There was no point in participating in challenges that I didn't expect to complete, right? But then, I got interested in the "A Lifetime of Books" challenge and decided to give it a try. Then, came the A-Z challenges, the season challenges, and the rest is history. I've become addicted to them, LOL.As of now, I'm participating in 16 - sixteen! - challenges. I don't know how that's happened! It's driving me crazy, so I think I'll have to start being more "selective" from now on. We shall see... :)
All the best Yz! We'll all we waiting to hear how it's going. I realised I couldn't continue monthly challenges around September last year. So, like Yz, I'll be concentrating on more long-term ones: A-Z; Pick-it-for-me; Random Book; and occasional Dare-You-to-Read.
@ AshleyI made a resolution to write a review for each book I read after my birthday last year. Unfortunately, I don't think I'm that good in writing reviews, although I still try. I'm like Melissa. Once I sit down to write, I spaced out. : ) Still I try, but I'm so behind, but I'm not giving up.
Yz, I hope your preparation for your move goes well - it must be so overwhelming - where do you begin, right? This is my second full year of challenges. I use challenges to help me decide what to read since I can't seem to make up my mind sometimes. Even with challenges, it's a dilemma. Last year I made up lists (some required it), I did too many between two groups and tried to crossover books. I'll never do that again, especially do a challenge where you can't change your list after it's posted.
So, no lists in advance, and limit to one year-long challenge with monthlies.
Yz, I hope all goes well with your big life-change. I haven't been doing challenges for the last year. I have been participating in the RRC tournament, mostly because I get to select whatever books I like. I have noticed though that because I haven't been doing the monthly challenges, I have been reading less. ;P
I am going to stick with my goal of reducing my TBR pile this year and I will be selective of any challenges I do. My major issue with my TBR pile is how to choose which books to read next (I own over 1,000 which I HAVEN'T read yet!). So I thought I would just pick a random number and that will be the next book - how do I come up with a random number? (You see my problem people??!!) So I've been on the internet for an random number selector and found one. It lets you put in the maximum number (in my case 1,000) and then it will select a number for you.... so this is what I will be doing.
LibraryLass wrote: "Yz, I hope all goes well with your big life-change. I haven't been doing challenges for the last year. I have been participating in the RRC tournament, mostly because I get to select whatever b..."
LOL...I use that trick myself once in a while.
www.random.org
I just have too many really really good books and a LOT of them are in series so it is not just what I'm in the mood for but it's also a commitment to a series. Most of my books in series, I will not read until the end unless of course it is J. D. Robb which is an exception to every reading rule I have ;)
Best of luck with your move, Yz!I find that I'm pretty addicted to challenges, and they help me to focus my reading and read more in general. I usually do what I can in the monthly challenge, as well as participate with the intent of finishing in the quarterly and some of the yearly challenges. I also randomly pick others as they interest me. Since I'm pretty selective about which ones I do and have thus far been successful at finishing the ones I intend to, I'll probably keep going at the same level. I think I counted that I'm currently in about 7-8 different challenges in a couple of different groups.
Yz, good luck on your move. I know that this a lot of work just to move different states, let alone a different country. I wish you well and hope all goes smoothly.I didn't see if you were going to continue creating challenges. I know this is a totally selfish question, but will you be continue to invent challenges? You have some of the most original challenges and I enjoy watching for them and participating when I can.
I will continue as I have; doing the season challenges and various monthly challenges.
Yz - best of luck with the move to the 'Pines. My brother-in-law goes over there a lot to help preserve some of the forrestry/national parks, so I hear a bit about it.I have been tracking my books and reading on GR since Feb 2009 but only joined this group in about Sept 2010. When I joined GR I started writing reviews for each book I read and I pretty much continue to do so unless it is just a short ebook or erotica (all those reviews would be the same!! :)) I started the reviews purely to remember what I thought of each book and didn't bother to make them private (or professional!). I'm now something like top 60 reviewer in Australia - and I don't read nearly the number of books that most members of this group read!! A pure reflection of the number of Australians on this site bothering to write up their thoughts!
Ooops - thunderstorm! I'll be back soon!
Darn - just lost all my typing!Briefly - I think I'll be reading more this year 'cos I find I really enjoy the challenges, but I'm going to try to be very judicious on what I read and make as many cross-over to other challenges as possible. I'll continue with the monthly category challenge - I love the planning involved in fitting my current books into those categories, but I'll just downsize to 8 if I can't get the author-state one to fit etc.
I'm probably doing a little more challenges this year. Not too much, though. I am trying to do challenges that are more general and I can fit my tbr pile books to fulfilling them. Yz, I blame you for igniting the challenge fire in me! :)
I've been doing the challenges here for two years now. I have to cut my participation down, not only in this group's challenges but in other groups. I only average reading 10 books a month and if I try to do the yearly challenges, the monthly challenge, and the read the month challenges, I'm either setting myself up to not being able to complete them, or stuck reading novella's to fill in categories. I read 118 novels last year but in addition read 136 novella's. Many of the books I want to read, just don't easily work into challenges or are harder reads I can't finish quickly enough. Some books are ones I like to read a chapter at a time, usually non-fiction, and it can take awhile to finish them. So although I've enjoyed the challenges, it's also stressful trying to unsuccessfully complete them all. So this year, I'm staying out of alot of monthly challenges to focus on quarterly and yearly challenges of my choosing. I want to finish Read my Lifetime in books, even though I'll bust the time limit as I can't finish the 20 books I need, all older, by April. But I'd still like to finish it. I love reading, and I love doing the challenges, but I need some freedom back to read what I want to read, wether it fits a challenge or not. Now if what I want to read fits a challenge, great! lol
@ MelindaOh, yes, I will still be creating new challenges. In fact, I will be unveiling a new one in the next couple of days.
goodness, I think I am going to increase my reading, decrease my book buying and stay about the same on my challenges. So that puts me in all the categories :) Yz, hope the move goes well and you can make it back to us soon.
I joined this group a while back but became really active last year. I'll probably continue doing as many challenges as long as I'm mostly using books from my TBR or come highly recommended. I basically use the challenges as a way to pick which books to read from my TBR. Something I decided this year was to only complete the challenges if I'm into the book. If I need to chuck a book, I'll do it, challenge be d@mmed. :)
Yz - Best of luck in your move! That's a very nice thing you and your hubby are doing for your Mom. I think most people would have ask your Mom to move in with you!
Is your hubby also from the Philippines? (I mean his background because you said he's only lived in the US.) A friend of mine lives there and she's has a difficult adjustment. (She's American though.)
Yz - Good luck with the move.I'm doing more long term challenges this year. I've got a lot of books on my TBR pile that just weren't fitting into the monthly challenges. I'll still do some monthly challenges if I have books to fit them.
Yz, I second Sandy's good luck. I hope all goes well; I'm sure your mother appreciates it. As for the challenges, I seem to be obsessed. The only down side is that I do sometimes end up reading things before ones I'd prefer reading. But broading my horizons is also a great thing as well. It's also great to be able to post as you go or change the list to suit what you're reading, if that's possible. And I've learned that if I don't finish a challenge, it's no big, although finishing them is so much a part of the fun. I have actually dropped a few challenges because they did not fit into my reading style. But like I said, I'm obsessed and so appreciate this group. It is so much fun. But in the end, I guess it's a matter of balancing your time. Still working on that one.
Thanks for all the best wishes. I'm feeling overwhelmed, but I'm taking it one day at a time.@ D.G.
Is your hubby also from the Philippines? (I mean his background because you said he's only lived in the US.) A friend of mine lives there and she's has a difficult adjustment. (She's American though.)
No, he is an American, born and raised in L.A., Calif. So it's going to be an education for him. *grins evilly* Now it's my turn to torment him.
This year I'm cutting back on the monthly challenges and focusing on quarterly and/or yearly challenges. I'm also trying not to pick all of my book choices so far in advance. Just let them "fall into my lap per say".
i was thinking about something today and realized that I really suck at the longer challenges...the ones that are a year...I forget about and don't complete or it gets close to the time to finish and i rush to go back through my list of books to see what i've read that fits...lol! so the monthly ones def. work better for me, and the occasional quarterly one
@Jane - good luck with that weather! Thinking of you guys in Queensland. Luckily my cousin in Maroochydore isn't flooded.
Best wishes for the move Yz!Last year I did nearly every challenge that came along. And I read stuff I really didn't want to read just to complete challenges. And I did complete every challenge I entered. Very stressful.
This year I'm doing the Yz monthly, a few quarterlies, a few little ones & a couple of yearlys from other groups. Much less stressful. Also I'm cross challenging more.
@Annie - Thanks! But better check and see if your cousin is still afloat! They are getting a massive dumping right now! (My parents live nearby.) I'm 4 hours north and we've been cut off in all directions for the past few days. Don't think I'll be working in Bris this week! :)
Even in Sydney, they said it would rain all week. We'll see!
Best wishes for the move Yz and I"m really sorry about your dad. My mom pass away from cancer last year and it was hard since she was in Puerto Rico and I was living here in Virgina. All my family still live there and I think even for you it would be a cultural adjustment after being living here for so long. In my case I being in GR for almost 2 years and it was a lifesaver for me. Reading it was something I always share with my mom and it was painful for me to read cause my mom couldn't read as much anymore because she was feeling tired or in pain for the treatments. To make things more complicated she find out about her cancer about the same time the I find out the a was pregnant, and for recomendation of her own dr I couldn't be around her for long time, cause the treatments were very strong and could put my baby on risk. All this put me in to a post partum depression and one of those sleepless nights I found this site on the internet. It really help me to go thru my depression at the moment cause really give me a different reason to read. I still can't read Diana Palmer storys cause they were my moms favorite but I start reading PNR and that was a change for me. Some months I was very active on the challenges others I couldn't but for most of the time, at least 4 books and that was good for me.
Thank you YZ for create this group and help me thru one of my most difficult time in my life. I do beleive the everything has a purpuse in life and you with this group touch mine in a beautiful way.
Sorry if I miss spell some words. Still learning english :o)
To those who have been doing challenges for quite some time now, what are your plans for 2011?
Are you cutting down, staying the same or moving up? Are you a challenge newbie, raring to go and make your reading goals? Are you totally burnt out, and decided to take it slow? Are you determined to stay consistent and not break your record so far?