Every year I set a bunch of goals for myself concerning book challenges, and I have come up short over and over again. Often it's not the amount I'm reading (I'm pretty steady on Goodreads). It's the direct challenges: "read a book that takes place in this country", or one "with a blue cover" that I just can't seem to get done.
This year I gave over a whole section of the handy dandy planner to reading challenges and the result is the same, except now I have to look at how far behind I am every day instead of in previous years, when it wasn't in my face.
Here's where I stand right now:
Goodreads (completed)
Read Harder 2018- a whopping 15 out of 24 met
Reading Women 2018- 19 out of 26 done
PopSugar 2018 - 7 out of 39
Each year I try to read all of the Nebula nominees and mostly only get the short fiction read. This year, same thing.
So what comes down to is that I am just not disciplined enough to force myself to read things. I want to read whatever has caught my fancy at that exact moment. I have wanted to read something on a Saturday, but the hold took so long to be filled by the library I have completely lost interest by the time it comes in. It happens.
I've been doing a pretty great job in the past 2 years of not reading writings by white, cis men. The majority of my reading avoids them. The publishing world is too white as it is. I have to allow for some exceptions: ah, hem, George Saunders and Neil Gaiman.