My Reading Plan

I've worked every day this week.

On Tuesday I logged in for one meeting. While in the meeting I realized I was not capable of doing any work and promptly climbed back in bed where I spent the rest of the day. Wednesday I slept in, not logging in until the late morning. I intended to work only for a few hours but had a mess come up that needed sorting and my drugs were working well enough that I worked almost a full day, after which I climbed back in bed.

I probably shouldn't have worked at all on Monday, but I put in a full day's work. And by that I mean I was at my computer for eight hours, with a break for a lunchtime nap. I did very little work despite my best efforts. Sick brain. One of the few things that did come out of my work on Monday was an organized plan for my reading. It's strange that through my efforts to get work done Monday, this plan for reading came floating to the top of my brain when I've never before considered having a plan for reading.

The plan: each month I will try to read one book out of five different genres: classic, fiction, children's fiction, history or biography, and nonfiction. I will also read whatever my book group is reading.

It might sound limiting but it almost comes as a relief. I've been trying to get all the books on my bookshelf read. I've made serious progress over the last year, but I've got a few dozen at least to go. I look at my shelf and don't know where to start. At the same time there are books I don't have on my shelf that I want to read and I almost feel like I can't go to the library because I have books at home to read.

This plan will enable me to pull books from my shelf I haven't read and fill in the holes with books from the library. It also gives me a reason to peruse the books on my to-read shelf on goodreads. Previous to this plan I would throw books on the list but never consult it.

With both a physical and virtual pile of books waiting to be read, this gives me direction, purpose, and the advantage of never being at a loss as to what to read next.

And suddenly the reason why I subconsciously created a reading plan is clear. Have I mentioned my work life has been slightly out of control and overwhelming of late? My answer to being overwhelmed is to organize. Always to organize. There's not much that can be done about work, but you better believe I can whip my reading into shape.