As much as I want to make reading a priority, I can't help feeling panicked about the challenge I have set out for myself next year. How on earth am I going to make the time to read a book a week, draft a new book and revise my existing books, AND oversee my kid's remote learning. There just can’t be enough time in the day.
This fear skittered around my brain ever since I wrote my last blog entry. So, I decided to see if I could actually read one book in one week while my kids were remote learning. I picked up a shorter book, Moonwalking With Einstein by Joshua Foer and broke it up into seven sections. Each section was only forty pages. Surely I could manage that!
And I did! I read a whole book in seven days. And while I am really proud of myself, I did discover a few problems that I’m going to have to work if I’m going to keep up with this momentum.
Problem #1: Time
With the kids remote learning from home, managing a time in which I can focus isn’t easy. My boys don’t have the same breaks or even lunches. It seems that someone is always needing help with their work, computer, or just plain needing a reminder that they should be doing work and not staring out the window.
But I did discover one time of the day when they were both focused and working, their morning meeting. So between nine and nine thirty I started reading regularly. While this time does work it did lead to a new problem...
Problem #2: Focus
At first I thought I'd be able to read in my bedroom while my kids had their morning meetings, but I soon realized that my youngest couldn’t remain focused on his own. So, I started reading at the kitchen table while he logged in with his teacher. Now, under my careful watch, he was able to stay on track with his work. Unfortunately, my focus was now distracted. Next month, I'm going to have to figure out a way for me to retain my focus while reading in the same room with my youngest.
Problem # 3: Slow reading speed
Okay, I'm not a fast reader and not only was unable to read the forty pages in a half hour, I couldn’t even read thirty pages. I was only getting twenty pages in and having to pick up the rest at odd times during the day or at night. Granted this slow reading speed is tightly related with my focusing problem. But, if I could pick up my reading speed even just a little bit, I'll be able to get through bigger books in one week. So, next month I'm going to have to start looking into some speed reading techniques to help me pick up my reading time. I don't need to be reading a thousand words per minute or anything, but if I could get myself up to 300 words a minute, it would save me a lot of time.
To get myself psyched for next year's challenge, I've been scouring good reads for some awesome new books to read. What books are you looking forward to reading next year?
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