This year I have signed up for about 22 reading related challenges all told. ( A couple only run for a few months). As well signing up for 22, two of those I am hosting.
Some of us appear to be quite the challenge addict - and yes there is a challenge to cover that too! This year I've stepped a little outside the box and my comfort zone and even signed in for a Discussion Challenge (reading related).
I enjoy a reading challenge for a number of reasons:
This year, along with my sidebars that help me visually track, I have linked all my challenges on one page so that I can quickly find them and I have written a note to myself in places about each challenge, although I am still a little muddled!!
What works for you organisation wise?
I enjoy a reading challenge for a number of reasons:
- fun and simple pleasure
- the satisfaction of ticking a book off the list
- helps me step outside the boundaries of my normal reading
- it extends my knowledge of books and blogs as I read others' reviews
- the satisfaction of completing the reading challenge by the end of the allotted time
- this year I am enjoying seeing how many challenges I can hit with one book!
- I quite enjoy entering a giveaway related to the challenge
Why do you sign up (or not sign up) to reading challenges?
Reading challenges aren't for everybody and that's okay. Why wouldn't you be involved?
Perhaps:
- it feels like a pressure
- too difficult to track and some reading challenges call for reviews
- just not interested
Last year I found one blog had completely been deleted when I went to link at the end. Never mind I had completed the challenge.
One reading challenge host blogger got completely taken over by life and never updated links etc. She had a huge number of people who had signed up, and very few of the promises were carried out. I completed the challenge, but found other challenges to do in that area for this year.
Organisation and Tracking challenges
Every challenge has variations about linking/not linking. Some link at the end of the month, some never link, some link at the very end.... and so on. When you are doing a number of challenges it can be quite difficult to remember what about which!This year, along with my sidebars that help me visually track, I have linked all my challenges on one page so that I can quickly find them and I have written a note to myself in places about each challenge, although I am still a little muddled!!
What works for you organisation wise?
Hosting a Challenge
Last year I hosted a reading challenge and I learned one or two things. I had link ups every month, but didn't leave the link posts where participants could easily find them, so that they could check if they had linked up a book or not. I will remedy that this year.
With the final link up I closed it off at the end of December, but I see many challenges leave that open until mid January or so. I am not sure about that, as I have forgotten all about last years' challenges, now I am thinking about this years.
How long should the final link up be for? End of December or Mid January? Or?
I love challenges, but I tend to lean more toward doing Read-a-Thons than Challenges. I love signing up for challenges, when I do sign up, because sometimes I just don't know what I'm in the mood for next, and a challenge, or a few, give me a direction to go in, rather than trying to figure it out.
ReplyDeleteIf I don't join one, it's because I read too much for it. The only formal year long challenges I'm in right now are just a matter of how many books I read for the year. I like the smaller shorter challenges, like the RaT's because that way I can read to the level I read to. For example, I looked at your full house challenge when you posted it. I do a similar bingo challenge and I enjoy those a lot, but the one I do runs every 3 months which is better for me because I read so much. I just looked at your card and with the books I've already read, I would have covered at least 17 of the squares already. So, it'd be hard for me to stick with that one when I'd finish it up so quickly. Most challenges are yearly and when it's to not read much (even the 105 challenge isn't enough for me) for me, I just can't get interested in them. I'm much better at the shorter one where I can read a bunch.
Beyond the 3 month Bingo ones, I tend to just do ones on GoodReads because it's just challenging myself and I can completely it whenever, no matter if it takes me a month or 5. I definitely wish there were some more challenges that I could find to do. I know there was one I wanted to start up this year and she didn't do it again, so it might have been one of the ones you were talking about. There was a similar one, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to do it.
Then I just challenge myself to my own things. I took Epic Read's 365 Days of YA and made it into a challenge for myself. It works. :)
As for how long to leave up a link, that's up to you. I'd suggest at least mid January though. If someone reads up until midnight on Dec 31st, they'd need some time to get their posts updated and posted, plus with people who celebrate holidays I'm sure it's a busy time of the year as well, but it's your challenge and up to you!
Thanks for your thoughtful response Karsyn. I think I hear you say you need a real challenge and so you pick accordingly and shorter ones suit you. I have joined a couple of shorter ones and I am seeing how that works for me. Will know after this year. While its my challenge I think I need to take your point about giving participants a chance to get organised, so will do that at the end of this year I think.
DeleteI admire your ability to stay on top of so many reading challenges. I've had mixed results with challenges. In 2013, I signed up for several and didn't complete them all. So, in 2014 I curbed my ambition and signed up for 4 challenges with very modest goals and completed them all. This year I am only signed up for the GoodReads challenge. Just not feeling into challenges at the moment.
ReplyDeleteCatherine thanks for taking the time to comment. Yes modest goals are important especially when you're got a lot going on. And then when you don't feel the call to take part in challenges then forget it! I will probably tire of them too I suspect! However will always do the Goodreads one, but I'll keep it within bounds!
DeleteGreat post! I have signed up for several challenges because they are fun. And like you said, they help push me to read things I wouldn't ordinarily read. I did try not to sign up for too many though. If I committed myself to too many challenges, then it would feel like pressure and I wouldn't be able to read a book just because I want to. I don't want 100% of the books I read to be read JUST to complete a challenge, you know? 22 challenges is a lot! But good luck! :)
ReplyDeleteBefore I switched my computer on I was thinking to myself about my next read and wondering have I put too much pressure on myself!! I may need to reassess at the end of the year for 2016. However it will push me into clearing some of those books I have bought and now they sit.
DeleteI used to sign up for four or so challenges a year, but I quit because of laziness? I hate to say that, but it just became a hassle to update my lists. Silly, I know. I think if you have fun doing them, go for it!
ReplyDeleteNow, I only do one challenge a year, and that's the R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril (RIP) Challenge around Halloween. I love that one because I'm crazy about Gothics, mysteries, suspense, and such.
Good luck with your challenges this year!
Thanks Diana, and I think a time will come when I don't either do challenges or cut way back. I wonder is it a phase many of us pass through!
DeleteI enjoyed reading everyone's thoughts on this topic. Early on I signed up for tons of challenges and liked to see how many challenges one book could fit. I don't think I ever completed every challenge (I'd have to look). About three years ago I felt I was choosing books to fit challenges, rather than what I wanted to read. It also became a chore to update the challenges. These last few years I've challenged myself to see if I can read more than the previous year as well as tracking where I've read. I also participate in the Goodreads challenge. It has been a relief to read for myself rather than a challenge. However participating in reading challenges enriched my reading as I read genres and authors that I would have missed otherwise.
ReplyDeleteNise yes I can see exactly. At the moment it doesn't feel a chore to me but I can see when the time will come! It's why I am fairly careful too about what I pick from NetGalley because I want to read what I like mostly. While challenges still enrich me I'll stick to them and then when the time comes, I let them be! Thanks for weighing in with your thoughts, appreciate it.
DeleteI didn't complete all my challenges last year, so I thought I would cut back this year. Instead, I find I've signed up for more than last year... oops. OTOH, I'm using the Ultimate Book Blogger Plugin now, which helps me keep track of all of them (though I still have to link up the reviews by hand.) I take the attitude that they are just for fun, so if I don't finish everything, but still read some things I wanted to and maybe pushed myself a little, I've still "won."
ReplyDeleteRe your question about when to end it - I can't necessarily get all the reviews written or posted in those last few days of a challenge, particularly if I have other reviews scheduled, or finish a book in the evening of the last day. So it would be really nice if challenges extended the time during which you could post and link - maybe a week or two past the deadline to finish reading.
I hope to move to wordpress soon and be able to experience that plugin! I think attitude counts a lot as they do need to be looked on as fun and a bit of a challenge but not overwhelming pressure!
DeleteThanks for the last bit of advice I will certainly extend the time out at the end of the year on the two I am hosting.
Whew that is a LOT of challenges! I'm signed up for 5 and hosting 3. I've hosted at least one every year. I close mine Jan 1st for submissions. That's a good point about keeping the link ups easy to find. I need to get mine updated. Eeps!
ReplyDeleteYour little counter bars on the right are a great idea. I just do a tally page that I update whenever I get around to it. lol
Anna thanks for joining the discussion. It is thanks to The Book Vixen that I have my counters and I enjoy using them, it is a visual for me to see how I am doing!
DeleteGreat post Kathryn. Good luck with your challenges. I would be interested in doing one or two, for example the Historical History challenge that I once signed up for. However, I don't like the added pressure to read certain books.
ReplyDeletePat one or two challenges that you really like reading within or want to stretch a bit are a great way to go. And it is so important to avoid the pressure, I am going to monitor how I go with that this year and then adapt accordingly for 2016.
DeleteOooh, this is a great discussion! I love it!
ReplyDeleteI definitely don't like to join too many challenges because it's hard to keep track, and because I don't really want to give myself too much pressure. I'm taking a more relaxed approach to reading and blogging now and am just setting myself an easy goal of reading one book a week because I got way too stressed out last year. But I do like joining some, at least! They give my reading some direction and I also like challenges with monthly link-ups since that means I can be more social and check out other people's posts while they check out mine. I've joined 7 at the moment, but I may still want to join more.
I guess it depends on the challenge. Some challenges like the Debut Author Challenge--it makes sense for it to stay open till January of the next year, since that gives people time to read debut novels published in December. But otherwise if there isn't a special reason then I don't see why they should stay open till January. End of December is enough! I agree, I'm too busy focused on the new year's challenges to worry about the old ones.
Cynthia thanks for those very relevant points. I agree with you over linking reviews and then being able to read others' reviews and perhaps comment. It does help to find new blogs and books.
DeleteLast year, I signed up for a ton of challenges, but (like you) found it hard to keep up with all of the different rules and link-ups. And, like you, I found that some of the hosts didn't really keep up either. This year, I only signed up for the Organization Challenge and I'm hosting the Discussion Challenge. I'm really trying to make an effort to make it obvious where the link-ups are for my discussion challenge, since that was a big pet peeve of mine last year. Hopefully I'm doing that well enough - we shall see!
ReplyDeleteNicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction
Nicole you are doing a fabulous job of organising your challenge and I find it very easy to negotiate around to find things. Thank you :)
DeleteI think its only by doing them we can find out which works best and how.