GROWing towards Book Shelf Zero

I had some largely useless training at work last week (some things
never change) that I was pretty much ready to forget the second I left
the room. The awful trainer was wrapping up the course by reviewing
GROW. The idea was to use the framework to develop a strategy for
achieving a well-defined (preferably measurable) goal. As she was
walking her victim through the approach, I decided that I would
subject my long standing reading goal to this coaching technique. I
will not belabor the details of the framework. Do a little searching
and you will likely find more than you ever wanted to know about
realizing a goal.

The Goal in this case is well-defined. Read all the books I own.
That's a big goal with a very simple solution, read more and buy less.

I want to say that simple statement obscures a more complex situation,
but that isn't Reality. Meeting my reading goals always comes down to
choosing to read rather than waste time on my phone, play video games,
or take a walk. I've explored this topic before, but deciding to read
rather than do something else is always the conflict. The fact that I
have to make a choice to read or do something else is an interesting
wrinkle. I have a set time to run (first thing in the morning), lift
(currently in the morning but that may shift back to lunch time), and
work. I leave reading to find its own place in my day. I mentally
pencil in reading time for the evening, but it's never a priority. I'm
happy to watch a football game while messing around on my phone or
something else right up until I'm ready for bed. Should I designate a
reading time?

Reading time is certainly an Option. The length of that time is one
thing to consider, but that could be decided by how much time I have
to allocate for reading. Looking at my regular weekday, I could read
after I eat dinner, after I get off the phone with T, or make it the
last thing I do before bed. I am pretty much always finished eating by
6:30. I usually talk to T at 8:30 so I could allocate some portion of
that two hours to reading. I could also read after I get off the phone
with T. That could be from 9:45 to 10:30 or so. Right before bed is
when I usually squeeze in a few pages. The big issue with right before
bed is fatigue. Drifting off while reading in bed is not uncommon. So
that leaves after dinner or after my phone call. I like to walk or do
other errands after dinner. That leaves after my call with T.

How Will I implement this plan? Well, how long will I read? At least a
half hour feels appropriate. I could always read longer, but a half
hour ensures that I get a good 20-30 pages of my current book read.
That's 100-150 pages over a week. Throw in some reading on the
weekend, and that's approaching a book a week pace. I will start
tonight. Not sure how much I will read on Thursday, Friday, and
Saturday as I'm moving out of the apartment and into our house, but I
will make my best effort. Not sure how much I will be moving that late
in the day anyway.

I will give it a week or two and report back.

Nearing the end of this awful Riftwar series

My predictions on Drizzt were sound. I managed to get that one wrapped up quickly. I pretty much focused on the events of Menzobarizon over what happened in Monticello and France so I have still not finished the Hemingses. I read a couple of chapters. I will finish it eventually. 

I started reading a book about an object from outside our solar system, Extraterrestrial, just to see what the book was like. I got into it and ended up finishing that on the plane ride back up to Vriginia. It was a short read. It had a different angle than I anticipated, but I am sympathetic to the frustrations of institutional inertia against new ideas. New ideas are risky. People who live in big organizations are highly risk averse. That was a book I owned (bought when it was on the Daily Deal) so I was able to check another one off that list. The Drizzt book (Starless NIght, for the record) was also a book I owned. They were both ebooks so I didn't lighten my physical shelves at all with those two. 

The book I"m reading now, A Darkness at Sethanon, is a physical book. I picked Beyond Psychology over this one just about 6 weeks ago. I read it on the plane flight back. That was a lucky stroke. That chunk of time got me deep enough into the book that I was sure to keep going to the end. I was feeling bogged down in the middle, but it picked up in the second half. I have less than 100 pages and there was finally a reference to Sethanon. The book is not good. It's very trite and the dialogue is so stilted and awkward. The pacing isn't good, the characters are boring, and it's just not a very exciting story. If I wasn't doing this NPR list (and I didn't have a Resolution to read a series this year) I would have left this series after the first book. I will be happy to have it finished in the next couple of days. 

My Florida life is moving faster than I anticipated when I was thinking about what it would mean to live down here by myself for several months. My time in this apartment could be ending soon, fingers crossed all goes well, and I could be in a house. I think my life will be much better in a house. I wish the schools were better in the area around my apartment because I prefer this area, but I"m sure I will adjust to Palm Harbor quickly enough. My books will be moved again. Maybe I will actually get a few of them read soon.