Friday, May 18, 2012

2012 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge

I found another reading challenge to tell you about. It lasts all year, and you can sign up anytime.

The Book Vixen is hosting the 2012 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge. Lasting from January 1 through December 31, the idea is to read more books than you read last year.

Of course, it's good to have some idea of how many books you read last year. When you figure out how many more you'd like to read this year, you can choose from the five challenge levels. It's very flexible, though; you can change levels whenever you want, depending on how you're doing with the challenge.

To sign up and get all the details you need, check out the official sign-up post.

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Reading Challenge

I realize this is short notice, but I found out about a read-a-thon and wanted to include a heads-up in case anyone wants to participate.

This is actually the fourth Bout of Books read-a-thon; it starts May 14 and lasts seven days. Participants make their own goals and have the opportunity to enter to win a fantastic giveaway! The idea is simply to read more that week than you normally do. You'll need to sign up on the host blog and then be sure to post your updates somewhere. See Bout of Books for all the details.

I don't think I'll be participating this time (I'm in the middle of a few books and would prefer to start a read-a-thon from scratch), but I'll definitely think about doing it in the future. I'd love to know if any of my readers sign up, so please leave a comment if you do!

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Wrapping Up the A to Z Challenge

After completing the Blogging From A to Z Challenge last week, I took some downtime, but now it's time for a reflections post. My main wrap-up post is at Ellie's Blank Book, but I also have a few thoughts to include here.

1. For this blog, I had everything all figured out before the challenge started. Even though I didn't write the posts in advance, I knew exactly what my topics would be. Well, that didn't last long. I changed my mind several times over the course of the challenge. My Z post is one of the few I was adamant about from the beginning.

2. I started doing research several weeks ahead of time by watching videos. Some were new to me, while I had first seen the others many years ago.

3. The challenge has made me more determined than ever to come up with a regular (and feasible) blogging schedule.

4. I'm behind on return visits and comments, but I'll be working on that now that the challenge is over.

The challenge was fun, and I hope to participate again in the future.