If you haven’t seen it by now, my friend and partner in crime, Kate, has given herself an insane reading challenge for 2022. 500 Books. I repeat. Five. Hundred. Books. So, how am I supposed to compete with that?

The answer? I’m not.

As long as Kate and I have been friends, she has always been the faster reader out of the two of us. And, despite what my friends and family would believe, the more dedicated bookworm. Perhaps it’s because she grew up in a house filled with other readers while it was rare to see anyone in my house, except for my mother, to pick up a book for fun. Even when it was assigned school reading you couldn’t catch my brothers with a book. Or, perhaps, it’s just her personality. Anything Kate does she does well while I need at least two or three tries to be willing to share my results, let alone mark anything as done.

Regardless of how our reading styles have evolved over the years and how we’ve landed here, in 2022, with Kate planning to read about a book and a half a day if she hopes to reach this goal by 11:59 PM on December 31st, 2022, I have to say that I’m not surprised by this goal either. And, if she keeps pace, I think she could get it done in time. Mark me down as a believer that is also ready to bring tea and snacks over in case of emergency.

So, what is my actual reading goal this year? 125 books. Simple but still more than I’ve read in the last two years, even when I exceeded my original goals. I don’t believe I’ve ever broken 115 books per year so, we’ll see how this goes.

The question now is, aside from my own 9-5 job and reading time, how else will I spend 2022? You’ll find me playing Dungeons and Dragons (sometimes streamed on Twitch), crocheting, or writing. I somehow managed to complete NaNoWrimo during the last two years of pure, world-wide chaos so, if I can do that again this year, I’d be pretty darn pleased.

An official list of my goals for 2022:

1. Read 125 books.
2. Play Dungeons and Dragons as often as possible (current rate of play is at least 1x per week.)
3. Create, plan and run a D&D one-shot for some friends as a first time DM.
4. Finish all outstanding crochet projects (of which there are currently 3.)
5. Crochet something for myself (that I’ll actually keep and not give as a gift!)
6. Continue Writing Group meetups on Sundays with a collection of joyous writer friends. Honestly, how did I ever write without them? This includes weekly reading/feedback of each other’s works and putting my own work out there for others to see.
7. Work on edits (as recommended by said writing group friends) and finalize writing book #1 in my current series to the point where I may consider looking for an agent. (Maybe).
8. Finish writing book #2 in my current series.
9. Plot and plan book #3 of the same series for NaNoWrimo 2022.
10. Stay sane. (Also, stay sexy and don’t get murdered.)

Wish me luck!