Improvement Achieved...In a Manner of Speaking

In the beginning of the year, I made a goal to read 52 stories in 2011. 

And before the eighth month was spent, I achieved that goal.  Last night, at the stroke of eleven, I finished the last words of the 52nd story.

No one was more surprised than me. 

Because of a domestic change, wherein my husband and I doubled the number of children in our home, I had to put my writing on the back burner.  Time and circumstance simply wouldn't allow for a word to be written all summer.  *Alright, that's not entirely true, but certainly, I have not written anything of consequence and have had to put all of my projects on hiatus.  Hard?  Yes.  Worth it?  Yes. 

How did I do it then?  How did I read so much?

Four reasons:

1) Before we doubled our children, I was aware that a change may be coming and so I stuck resolutely to a reading schedule early in the year.  I was worried that I would fall behind and not make my goal.  Silly me. 

Also, one of my son's teachers was almost perpetually late letting him out of class.  I had to be on time to pick him up, on the rare occasion when she let them out when the end of the school day came, but I also picked up a lot of reading time while waiting for him to be released on the more frequent occasions that she was up to twenty minutes behind schedule.  Twenty minutes, four times a week, adds up to a lot.  

2) Owing to the changes that the adoption has wrought, I have found myself with an unbelievable amount of reading time.  I have found it necessary to be in the same room as the children for most of the summer.  So while they play or read, I have sat quietly in the room, often reading myself, engaging when necessary, but allowing for autonomy when possible.  Also, I put them all in lots of activities, meaning that while they are doing gymnastics or swimming or horseback riding or baseball or whatever, I have primly sat on the sidelines with my nose stuck in a book.   

3)  On long car rides, my previous car sickness (when reading) magically disappeared.  Yay!  It's a Christmas miracle!  I managed to read and thoroughly enjoy several books on just one long car trip. 

4) I picked some easy reads - for me that is.  I read a lot of young adult books and regency era novels.  If I had to read a lot of biographies (which I think are always biased and so I question every line) or science fiction or who knows what else, I would not have achieved my goal this early.  Yes, there were a few duds in the mix but for the most part, I read a lot of rollicking good stories.  I plan to write about the best and worst at the end of the year, but let's just say that the Sarah Eden, Adam Gidwitz, E.D. Baker, Jacqueline Diamond, Donna Hatch, Catherine Gilbert Murdock, and Michelle Paige Holmes are at the top of the stack.  I would like to thank my friends Rena and Amazon for introducing me to so many fantastically fun adventures this year. 

And, if I were to extrapolate my current pace out to the rest of the year, I would be on course to read another 26 books, making a yearly total of 78 stories.  That just sounds crazy.  At this point, I have met my goal and I am proud of it.  Seeking Persephone (which I pre-ordered - yay!) is the only book that I know I will still read in this calendar year.

Besides, school starts up soon for all the kids and so I hope to be able to start carving out some personal writing time again.  Oh the dreams I can dream.