My Reading Life Plan for 2023

Photo by Laura Kapfer on Unsplash

Very little brings me quite as much joy as time spent reading. Several years ago, I was vastly unhappy with the quantity and quality of my reading time and so I began trying to identify ways to improve my reading time — or to borrow a phrase from Anne Bogel of Modern Mrs. Darcy — my reading life. For a couple of years, I diligently did Anne’s challenge. Then just as I realized that letting someone else identify specific categories or types of books wasn’t going to work for me, Anne made her challenge into the evergreen challenge you see at the link. She encouraged her readers to design their own reading life goals. And that is what I’ve done.

For 2023, I am setting an ambitious set of reading goals.

1. I’m diligently tracking my reading. I’ve done this in past years and it has worked well for me. I read more when I carefully measure and track what I’m doing. I’m tracking time spent reading and pages read.
2. Not only will I track when and how much I’m reading but who I’m reading. In 2022, I published a list of 100 books by female authors and authors of color — specifically focused on small business owners. I will keep calling attention to the need to diversify any book list I see and I will continue to try to diversify my own book list.
3. I’m taking a book buying break. My physical unread shelf has more than 50 books on it…