Writer Wednesday – Reading Plans

Every year, I do the Goodreads Challenge, and this year I’m aiming for 250 books. This is lower than my average of 300, but that’s due to a few important things:

1. I recently decided to rewrite Book 3 of Surviving Vihaan, and that is a HUGE priority. I already have an idea of how I want to do, and getting it done quickly means making as much time as possible to focus on it.
2. I want to re-start my Learning Korean plans, which means *making* time for that.
3. I have quite detailed plans for a new crime book I want to write. It’s been a dream of mine to write a crime series, but every time I’ve tried, it never quite worked out. This time, I have such a solid plan that I want to dedicate some real time to it, which will demand A LOT of research.
4. I desperately want to rewrite at least one book, this year. I have 3 big ones on my list (other than Vihaan 3): I want to re-write the Evanders trilogy as a duology with a more grown-up feel. I want to re-write my Nynnyaw series, not only with a more intense, drawn out plot, but also completely rename it. I’d also like – though probably not this year – re-write my old MF story, Courage in the Kiss, as an MM mpreg, ABO story to fit into my Call Me series. I really feel that it could work much better in that format, though it will require *intense* rewrites.

However, I still plan to get a lot of reading done, as always. I have a HUGE list of “must read” books, that are both required for Netgalley, bought books, and ones I’m looking forward to releasing in 2023. To do this successfully, I’m resorting back to my lists of what I want to read. I’ve got my reading list entirely mapped out in my Reading Journal (as you can read about in depth here.)

To break down that journal into manageable parts, I’ve also created these visuals, to keep me on track. I often find that having a visual reminder of the cover is better at making me want to read the book, because I’m usually drawn in by the cover, first.

This A-Z challenge is based on a mixture of books. Some are Netgalley, some are *really* old and have been on my TBR for way too long, and others are recent paperback purchases. Instead of finding just any books that fit the theme, I purposefully went through my Kobo, Amazon and Netgalley lists, to see what jumped out and what fitted the letters best. I tried *not* to think about it, as I was doing it. I simply picked a book cover or book I liked, saved the cover and waited until I felt like I was done before filling in my A-Z template on Canva. After that, I made a list of the gaps, then went back to my lists and sorted by Title, to see if there was something I’d missed that could fill in the spaces. The only one I really had to search for was X – and there was Xperiment, sitting on an old, old, old TBR list. Perfect!

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My Catch Up list is a reminder of all the series I’m currently reading, that are incomplete or have books coming out this year. These are all books that I buy in paperback or e-book, rather than review books. Once I’m more caught up with my Netgalley list, if there’s a book there that’s part of a series that I enjoy, I’ll definitely add them to my Catch Up list later in the year. These are mostly manga or yaoi, because most of the novel series I’ve been following have either just released a new book, so there won’t be another one for a while, or because they’ve already finished.

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The Start Fresh list is a collection of series books that I really want to start, even if just to find out whether I like the author/series or not. Sometimes I don’t like the writing style or plot, or maybe I just don’t like it as much as the person who recommended it to me. Either way, I try to buy the entire series – firstly, so that I have the whole set, if I do get sucked in by it, but also to support the author, because it’s not their fault if I just don’t click with a book. Mostly, it’s for the first reason. And, if I don’t enjoy it, I can remove the entire lot from my TBR list.

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Solo Venture speaks for itself, in that the books on this list are all solo novels that I’ve been meaning to read for a while. Some are short, some classics, some brand new.

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I probably mentioned this a LONG time ago, but I find the best way to keep track of my reading plans – and my book purchases! – is by keeping a spreadsheet. I have one file, with separate sheets for TBR, Challenge Books, EBooks, Paperbacks, etc. Here’s a quick sneak at my set-up.

This way, I can search for a book title or author, and find out if I have the book before I accidentally buy it for a potentially second time. (Which, I admit, I have done.) It also means that I can see what series I loved and whether to continue, as I mark off my rating of the book when I’m finished reading. I can also keep track of *where* I bought the book, and if it’s stored on my hard drive, that probably means it was an ARC or a free download from the likes of Prolific Works or BookFunnel. That way, if it pops up for free on Amazon or Kobo, I’ll buy it again, to get the finished, final edition for future re-reads, if I really enjoyed it.

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