Fairy Revel

Every year I make a reading plan, and I rarely (if ever) complete it. In spite of that, I feel that I accomplish more with a plan than I would without one. My goals, however far beyond my reach, or however I flounder and fail, encourage me to do better than before, to keep working at achievements, even if I don’t meet with as much success as I hoped.

My reading plan for this year is:

Get a foundation in fairy tales and folk tales.
This may sound weird for someone into fantastic literature, but I have never enjoyed fairy tales, and I’ve read very few. I think it’s because I like my reading to be deeply personal and character-focused, and fairy tales are short on character development. However, I think it’s time I became familiar with more tales than just the ones that became Disney movies, and see if I can’t learn to love something about these stories. I’ll be posting a sort of “initial impressions” series on fairy tales in 2011, as much for a personal record as public discussion.

Then begin studying Japanese folk tales.
I’ve been reading Japanese Tales, translated by Royall Tyler, and I’m surprised to say I’m enjoying the stories more than I thought I would. Many of them are funny, in a sort of quirky, dry-humored way. Unfortunately, these are mostly courtly and religious stories rather than folk tales, so there aren’t a lot of the farmers, fishermen and kappa I hoped to read about. So part of my reading plan for this year is just to immerse myself in the Japanese folk tales translated so far into English.

Read 50 books.
This is my basic, bottom-line challenge every year, and every year I fail to meet it. But last year (2009) I raised the number of books I read in a year from about 10 to around 25, and this year it looks like I’ll come in somewhere just under 20, so I’m happy with my results and will continue to shoot for 50 books each year. I really hope to make it this year!

Read one-third of the books on my 100 Project list, half of them the “difficult” books.
I posted my 100 Project list not that long ago. I really need to work hard if I’m to finish all the books on the list by my end date (April 27th, 2014), and some of these books are doozies. I don’t know if I’ll make a list specifically of difficult ones to conquer, but it might help.

Read the unread books already on my shelves.
When I look up at my bookcases, I see rows of books unread. This makes me feel guilty, and then when I’m at the bookstore, I have this horrible thought: “I should not buy any more books until I read the ones I have.” This must not be. So in order to free myself from the chains of guilt, I should probably read as many of the books I own as possible.

Once again, I’m probably over-reaching, but I sort of don’t care. You can’t reach a goal you haven’t set.

At the beginning of each year, I wonder whether it’s wise to set these goals, or if it’s even important. I think about skipping this step every year, and this year is no exception. This morning, though, I realized that I finally met a long-term goal of mine in 2009: I wrote a novel. It’s a NaNoWriMo novel, hardly what you could call “complete”, but it has a beginning, middle and end and has a main story arc. I’ve finally done it! So this year, I’m going to keep setting goals and keep trying to reach for them.

Writing Goals

• Revise Dogwood, my 2009 NaNoWriMo novel.
• Write another novel.
• Write a short story and submit it for publication.

Reading Goals

• Read 50 books (every year I participate in the 50 Book Challenge; year before last I read about a dozen, in 2009 I read 27, so I’m getting there!)
• Read 20 books off my list for 100 Project.
• Conquer my own bookshelves! I’d like to put a big dent in the unread books I own.

That’s all for reading goals. I’m trying to avoid any challenges involving specific authors, series or similar since usually end up regretting them. I’m also not hosting any challenges other than 100 Project, because every time I do, the blog I host it at dies a sudden death! Though I’m sure I’ll try again in the future . . . but not right now.

Personal Goals

• Learn to make madeleines.
• Develop a homekeeping routine.
• Learn wirework jewelry making.
• Keep working on bellydance.

I have more personal goals I could list, but I think I’d better keep it reasonable. If I get to other stuff, all the better. Those are the definites.