Nerd Goals

It's kind of odd to talk about New Years Resolutions in the middle of July, as many of these were long forgotten by mid-March, but mine is still going strong. Well, one of them. I didn't give myself the generic goal of losing a few extra pounds or working out more, I gave myself reading and writing goals. How nerdy is that?

First, I going to talk about the failed one. Ever since senior year of high school I wanted to become a published author and I thought I should make this a reality. At the beginning of the year, I logged in hours upon hours of research on how to get self published, and decided to write a short story to be published on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Apple's iBooks platform. All three allowed for short works of fiction (~20 pages) and I figured thats the best way for me to get my feet wet in the world of literary fiction. I would love to write my Magnum Opus before I turned 25, but I knew that wasn't going to happen.

The short story didn't either.

Almost 7 months later, I still have nothing written down. Not one storyboard. Not one idea. Not a single word.

Maybe I will carry this over for my 2014 resolution. Or at the rate I'm going, this decade's resolution.

On to the more successful one:

My second goal for 2013 was to read 25 books by the end of the year. This task might seem simple to most but with a full time job, a full time life, and beer; it's near impossible to sit down for a few hours to immerse myself into a book without the urge of vegging out taking over. I had to make time.

It's pretty amazing how many books you can read in a few months just by reading on your lunch breaks at work. As the end of July is quickly approaching, I have finished 16 of my 25. What I have read ranges from the classics, to contemporary literature, and non-fiction; some as long as 700+ pages to as little as 125. Nothing is out of bounds.

Out of what I read this year so far, I would have to say that Moby Dick (yes, I know, almost everyone has read this in high school, but I have not) and Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy are not only two of my favorites from this challenge, but two of my favorites from all time.

I am currently in the middle of books #17 and #18 as I write this- American Pastoral by Philip Roth and Cosmos by Carl Sagan.

So far, this challenge has not only opened by eyes to books that I never thought about picking up (The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman) but has made me into a better writer just by reading different styles of prose.

This is truly an enjoyable challenge, and by bookshelf has never looked better!

I will post my completed list at the end of the year, or when I finish book #25, whatever comes first.

Happy reading,

Chris