Corrigazing

You ever do that thing where you're really proud of yourself for getting something accomplished and you're patting yourself on the back, all chuffed on a job well done, and then you realize that you haven't actually done the job you think you have? No? Just me? Well, that happened at the beginning of February. I had been working on an abstract for a call for papers that a member of my dissertation committee sent to me, and I was polishing it up, ready to turn it in, when I realized that the CFP hadn't, in fact, called solely for an abstract, but also for an actual 6,000-8,000 word completed essay. Upon this revelation, I promptly drove to the library, picked up a book I'd put on hold (and, as usual, bought several books from their ongoing lobby sale), came back home, poured myself a glass of wine, and drowned my sorrows in a paranormal mystery set in the Reconstruction era. I'm generally a careful reader of instructions, but somehow this CFP outwitted me, and it's a darn shame because I would have been perfect for the book, given my particular research. Such is life, though. Guess I'll hafta look for a window to make up for that closed door.

I love reading. I love challenges. If you put the two of them together, I'm basically in heaven. This is why I set seemingly unreasonable goals on Goodreads every year. This year, I've set it at 60, because the scramble to hit 52 at the end of last year apparently wasn't harrowing enough. 

At the beginning of January, my friend Joy alerted me to the existence of the Read Harder Challenge from Book Riot, which is apparently in its second year, and which consists of 24 different reading tasks that you can either complete individually, or complete by finding books that meet multiple criteria at once. Natch, I feel the need to find a different book for each requirement. After all, I'll still be less than halfway through my yearly goal, so what they hey, right?