Reading Challenges: A Year of Reading, and more!
How many of you have a stack of books you’re planning to read? Someday, right? And how many of you add to that list every year? I’m with you! I needed to know what happened in the Lunar Chronicles too!
That’s why I love the reading challenge created by Estella’s Revenge called #ReadMyOwnDamnBooks. I joined up last year and read 38 out of 131 books. I think I started with double that amount on the shelves (and floor), but one of the books I read was The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up and I sold/gave away 125 books.
I’ve created my current bookshelf list for 2017, should you wish to peruse my shelves.
(And it’s safe to say I’ll be doing this reading challenge for years to come, because let’s face it, I will keep buying books. But now, I do read more that I currently own versus buying QUITE so many.)
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I’m also using the book A Year of Reading to diversify what I read this year. This guidebook separates each month with a theme and gives six different book ideas for that theme. I love its diversity in authors and in genre.
It’s inclusive of authors of color, something I was looking to include more of this year in my reading, and the genre options include fiction and nonfiction, but also more marginalized categories like graphic novels, poetry, and short story anthologies.
The themes range from serious to fun, with a mix of genre styles within them. January was all about happiness, so very timely for that new year, new you vibe.
This month, I completed The Principles of Uncertainty by Maira Kalman.
Kalman’s book is different than most books I’ve read because it is also an art book. The pages are her colorful paintings and photography of people, places, and things that catch her eye – whether passing by on the street or musing over a historical figure.
This is a book you could read in a day. But I chose not to. I wanted to savor it.
On a surface level, it’s an easy book to read for reading’s sake. But I wanted to muse along with her. Sometimes I learned about a historical figure, or a family member of hers, or even the intricacy of a tassel on a chair. So what you really get out of Kalman’s book is that happiness is found in the little things. The day to day moments where we stop. And just look. Just listen.
What reading challenges are you doing this year, formal or otherwise?
What books have you read recently that made you think?
The Happiness Project: Now An Educational Blog Series!
Hello Friends!
I know, it’s been awhile. I’ve been a naughty blogger. I didn’t post at all last week cause I was sick with a cold and pretty much had no idea what to write about. I did get some work done on my book though, which is good and bad. Good – because my goal is to be a published, professional writer. But bad – or maybe more accurately sad, because I missed you all and felt guilty for ignoring you in favor of sweatpants, Echinacea, kleenex, and the Harry Potter marathon that was on all day Saturday.
Which leads me to an update. As much as I hate to say it, and I really do, I’ll be cutting my posts back to once a week. I have to focus on edits right now, and I need the extra time to get them done. There’s going to be a lot of this going on…
I will have some awesome guest bloggers joining me next month so stay tuned for guest posts from animal expert Amy Shojai and mystery writer extraordinaire Kathy Owen – both of whom have new books coming out! Holla!
In procrastinating writing a new blog post, I perused my recent blog stats page to see what amazing search terms led people to my blog.
You know what I learned?
I’m apparently writing an educational blog series!
I mean, people are popping over here to learn all kinds of information. Just in the last 30 days, here’s a list of topics I’ve been their go to source for:
- Mount Rushmore holes in eyes – um, ok
- how to do the Peanuts dance – well sure
- dino erotica – this will not be on next year’s syllabus
- Barret Oliver
- what defined the 80’s
- things to blog about that start with ‘S’ – don’t ask me about the letter ‘E’, I have no idea!
- do older ouija boards work better – I don’t know, I don’t plan to touch one ever again.
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wicked musical party supplies – I’m better with Oscar parties.
- reports of vampire attacks in 2013
- claimed vampire attacks in 2013
- covered up vampire attacks
- vampire attacks – For. Realz.
- missing your dad who died from positive quotes – I have a question for you, how does one die from the power of affirmation phrases?
- travel necessities in Korea
- how long does it take for a tarot reading to come true
- how many nominations did The Hobbit get
I’m so pleased I could be your reference on so many broad topics. I shall strive to elaborate and educate on many more in 2014.
Now, raise those hands. Who’s got a topic they want to talk about in class?
Oh Captain, My Captain

Robin Williams as Professor Keating, or "Oh Captain, My Captain"
Have you ever seen the movie The Dead Poet’s Society? I love that film. Growing up feeling estranged from my small town upbringing and a writing future that looked bleak and penniless, it meant the world to me to have a few teachers throughout the years that encouraged passion for writing and creativity. In the film Robin Williams plays an english teacher who introduces his students, impressionable young men with a thirst for freedom and newness, to the Dead Poet’s Society. The society is a secret group that meets to read poetry about everything raw in life.
With a helpful nudge from fellow blogger, CM Stewart, I was given a quick review of what my blog says about me as a platform, or writer’s profile. “Close to Home” she said, and urged me to expound on my About page and explain why I panicked the moment college graduation started ticking down. Here goes.
I wanted to be a writer since I was three. My first story, entitled “Ho-Ho and the Missing Key” was a story about a bear named Ho-Ho who loses a key. It ended with him finding the key, in case you were curious. My parents were always supportive of my writing endeavors and praised me as their gifted youngest child. Now and again, as I got older, my father would be pouring his morning glass of orange juice and fill his cup with flax seed, stare up at me and ask, “What are you going to do for money?” Sitting on the counter top staring out the same kitchen windows I had for years, swinging my sock feet over the cupboard door my mother repeatedly told me not to do as it would break the hinges, but it never did, I shrugged. I’ll figure it all out. You all know what I thought. I’ll be so brilliant the agents will clamor at my door and beg to publish my work. I’m going to be the next Adrienne Rich of poetry, the next Sloane Crosley of satire, the next best thing to hit Hollywood!
My middle and high school years included some amazing literature teachers who read my scribbles and said “bravo!” In fact, I got the greatest written recommendation letter for a college scholarship I’ve ever read from one those teachers. She described me as having an arsenal of strength. Who wouldn’t be flattered? This teacher had also stood up for me and spoken to the principal about my senior exit interview. My interviewer was a retired Doctor Hartwick. He was a tall, midwest bellied man who always wore a tie. He had combed wavy gray hair and typically read Bible passages at the Catholic church I grew up in. Going through my portfolio, he skimmed right over all my extra writing samples, my forensics awards, my extracurricular activity participation and told me I didn’t have enough math examples. And that writing was fine for free time, but what was my fallback plan? When I told my teacher about how I was grilled about making a better realistic choice for my college plan, she went straight to the principal, “You don’t tell a top 20 honor student that her dream is unrealistic!” Dr. Hartwick was never asked to help with senior exit interviews again.
In college, I found similar professors who encouraged my out of the box project delivery. Instead of papers, I often wrote and performed spoken word pieces. I became involved with performance pedagogy groups and worked on a few literary journals. Hell, I was a student slave in the English department copy room, making copies of all the professors’ class assignments and reading!
My senior year I joined the company I currently manage for. It’s a higher end retail department store, and I began in customer service. Happy in my new job, I was drawn to their service manager position, which focused on answering the customer issues on the floor. I spoke with the store manager several times that I’d be interested in doing it. I hadn’t made any plans after graduation, stalling at the time unsure of how life would affect the relationship I was in and suddenly unsure of what I wanted to do with my life anyway. A month before graduation and I seriously considered not going through with it and changing my major to business management! Chaos broke loose. I was interviewing with Americorp, I had bookmarked the peacecorp site on my computer, and talked to my boss again saying please please please. Obviously, you know where I ended up. I was given a full time sales position to learn the floor before moving a few months later into the service lead, and few months later into the sales manager position I currently am in.
I go back and forth remembering my decision making process after graduation. I am currently in a well paying job that is allowing me to pay off my student loans much faster than my siblings were able. And I hadn’t wanted to go to grad school right away anyway. My panic about what field to study made adding more loan payments on while being unsure of the course seem like a bad idea. So, I decided I’ll work a few years and then decide what and where I really want to be.
The problem, which now brings you all up to speed, was that two going on three years have passed and I miss writing. I wasn’t doing it anymore. And this blog, which I started to document my return to words, has been difficult to maintain regularly, but feels like the best thing going on in my life right now. So, here I am, talking about things “close to home,” sharing stories, memoirs, and support for anyone making a teensy weensy change or a monumental move in their life. If your ambitions are in writing like myself, I highly recommend you check out Kristen Lamb and her book We Are Not Alone. She is just one of the many wise men I am meeting on my happiness project.