My 2021 Reading Challenge – The Climb #693

Friday 15^th January 2021

One of the things I really want to do more of in 2021 is read. Whilst other areas of my writing profession have been sporadic, they have at least had moments of productivity. Reading, however, is something that suffered. I just couldn’t get my head into books in 2021. Even big titles I had been looking forward to, like the Dresden Books, proved to be a bit of a challenge.

So I’ve set myself a challenge to read more. This includes both physical / ebooks as well as audiobooks.

I find audiobooks useful as I can listen to them as I do other things. Obviously those things can’t be too involving otherwise I don’t pay attention to the story but I’ve found they provide the perfect accompaniment to leveling new characters in Warcraft.

Like my reading, I want to get a lot completed – specifically, I want to grind alts so I have them to hand to run old raids and dungeons. I managed to get my 6^th character to level 60 today.

Typically I’ve been doing this late at night before going to bed. It just seems the perfect way to unwind.

I’m currently listening to the audiobook of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and really enjoying it. That book has been on my radar for a long time and it’s proving everything I thought it would be.

But what a perfect combination if I could get a load of reading done by listening to audiobooks as I level characters. What a brilliant way to get characters leveled by listening to great audiobooks. That mobius strip of productivity.

There’s part of me that wants to get an audiobook listened to and a character leveled every week. I know this isn’t practical. Maybe I could do it if I was in a rest period between projects. An audiobook alone is around 24 hours. Leveling a character around 10. That’s a lot of time to find within a busy week.

Currently, I see the weekly aim as a bit of a procrastination activity to take me away from creating, A good and productive one, but something to eat up my writing time nonetheless. Maybe every two weeks instead then?

But in my dreams I see the idyllic world where I write for an hour then do another level on an alt whilst carrying on with an audiobook that’s gripping me. Now the initial hype of Shadowlands is dying down that’s a distinct possibility.

Whether I pull it off or not remains to be seen, but I do know that I want to read more in 2021. I have a pile of physical books, a ton of auidiobooks and a kindle full of ebooks all wanting to be read. The most difficult thing will prove to be deciding on what to read next.