Read Another Book—8 of 60

Another book down! I read a cozy mystery this week, Strictly Murder (The Verity Long Mysteries Book 1) by Lynda Wilcox.

Strictly Murder - Lynda WilcoxIf it weren’t for the fact that the whole reason I started this reading challenge was so I could get through the backlog of books I have to read, I would definitely buy the sequel and start it next. I enjoyed the book a lot.

I do hope I’ll get to the other books in the series sometime, since the reviews make a case for books #3 and #4 in the series being even better, and then there’s a novella too.

This reading mini habit I’ve been working on, 2 pages of fiction a day, never less, more if I want, seems like it’s really going to keep my fiction reading on track this year.

NOTE: I decided to make an effort to read more books this year. And since I have so many unread books, I set a goal to read at least 60 of the books in my backlog by the end of the year. Here’s the log if you want to see how I’m doing.

Day 14 of No More Zero Word Days

Ha! It’s been 14 days now. I haven’t missed a day of writing on at least one of the 4 novels I most want (and need) to finish asap.

I wrote 69 words for one story and deleted 98 from another, so technically, I’m not necessarily going to end the day positively unless I squeeze in just a bit more writing, but hey, it counts.

Having such a small goal has helped make this possible. I suspect that if I’d set my goal above 50 words a day I wouldn’t have made it to 14 days. I just did a quick average on my spreadsheet and I’ve averaged 164 words a day over those 14 days. That’s really not that bad, considering. That said, I’m about to change things. Nothing drastic, but I think I need to change my mini habit.*

Tomorrow I’m going swimming. I love swimming, and I’m hoping I won’t burn in the sun since tomorrow’s high is supposed to be around 83° F. I’m also hoping I’ll come home rejuvenated and ready to enjoy the holiday weekend. I need a break. A real break, not one that’s caused by procrastination and anxiety—something I can enjoy. I need more of those, and fewer of the other.

*Posted! Mini Habit Revisions.