2017 Challenges

2017 READING CHALLENGES

Unfortunately, 2017 is starting off slow as far as my reading goes. Gina, Wendy and I have been so busy with tours that I haven’t done much reading this week but am hoping I get into a reading routine.

I have been waiting for this Challenge and, since I’m not doing well with Bout Of Books this week, I will be signing up for the Winter Respite Read-A-Thon.

Hosted by Literary Escapism
My goal is to read 20 New Authors
Welcome back to the New Authors reading challenge! I’m hoping everyone is still enjoying this reading challenge as we head into our eighth year.

For those new to the New Authors Challenge, the whole idea started when I first started reviewing and I didn’t know that many authors in my new favored genre. So I went looking. I gave myself a goal of finding 50 new authors and ended up reading 56 that first year. I loved finding these new characters, worlds and cultures, so I want to help others find new ones as well. Since 2006, I’ve tried over 150 different authors I may not have tried otherwise (and that’s when I lost count, I’m sure there’s more) and I have found some really great authors.

The idea behind this is to find new authors that you’ve never tried before, not necessarily ones that are debuting. They can be in your genre of choice or be brave and try something new. You never know what you’re going to like until you try it. If you’re looking for some suggestions, you can check out the Author page here at Literary Escapism or the 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 Challenge pages. With over 1000 reviews posted, I’m sure there will be something there for everyone.

For those who have joined us before, last year I made a couple changes – using google forms instead of Mr. Linky and there’s no more goal levels. Everyone reads at different speeds, and opportunities change. Why stress over numbers? The important thing is simply to try a new (to you) author. So, you tell me how many new authors you want to discover. If you only want to read one new author in 2017, fine…go for it. If you want to read 100 new authors in 2017…now that would be pretty fantastic!

Getting back to what’s going on now…it’s the New Authors Reading Challenge 2017 guidelines:
The challenge will run from January 1, 2017 through December 31, 2017.

Since this is an author challenge, there is no restriction on choosing your novels. They can definitely be from other challenges. However, the authors must be new to you and, preferably from novels. Anthologies are a great way to try someone new, but only a third of your new authors can be from short stories/novellas or anthologies.

I want this to be an easy challenge, so you tell me how many new authors you want to discover. If it’s 1 or 100, go for it. It all depends on how fast you read and how adventurous you want to be.

After reading your new author, write your review and then come back here and add your link to the form.
Bloggers or Non-Bloggers alike are welcome. You don’t have to have a site to participate. You can link up via Facebook, GoodReads or even Amazon if you’d like.

Hosted by Michelle at Seasons of Reading

Well, the holidays are behind us and we are now in a new year. Goodbye, 2016! Now it’s time for some winter’s respite and recovery. Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and I wish you much health and prosperity this new year!

This is the official sign up for A Winter’s Respite Readathon! Dates are January 16 – 29, starting at 12:00am Monday the 16th, and ending at 11:59pm on Sunday the 29th. Times are central standard time so adjust your times accordingly. Yes, the readathon is now two weeks long! I, for one, am pretty excited about that!

Of course, like most readathons, the books read must be novels or novellas, adult or young adult are fine, and you can read children’s books too (as long as you do read some novels too). Note: Non-Fiction is also okay! You DO NOT have to participate the entire two weeks. Join in when you can, start in the middle, end early…whatever works best for your schedule. As with all of my readathons, it will be a time for relaxed reading during which we can personally challenge ourselves and whittle away our ever looming TBR piles/shelves/libraries.

Guidelines for the readathon can be found HERE or you can access in the tab at the top of the blog. Any information you need about the readathon can be found there. Please do be sure to check the guidelines to make sure you’re following along correctly. There are specific rules regarding signing up and wrapping up, especially in regards to the giveaway. Also, regarding the giveaway, I’ll be again adding a Google form to capture names and email addresses so if you’re interested in winning a prize (and you’ve met the sign up and wrap up criteria), I will ask you to fill in that form which will be located on the prize page.