Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion

So, I have a challenge problem, in that I keep joining them and joining them until I have to actually keep a group telling me which challenges to check every time I finish a book. I have started a rule in which I can only compete in 15 challenges at a time, and when I finish one challenge, only then can I start another. I was wondering how many challenges you guys have joined at one time? Is 15 ridiculous or about normal? Also, what have been your favorite challenges?

I guess I just want to feel less crazy for joining so many challenges. :)

15?!
I'm currently in 30 of them. Well, 29 actually (just finished one :P)
I kinda like those long therm ones since I'm mood reader and have problem with planning what to read upfront. Every time I tried I've read everything else but those planed books. :P With few months, year or no-end-date challenges I usually manage to finish them.
I also love team challenges. But man, those are pretty hard on your TBR. You think you're safe and you'll clean your TBR, then start checking what your teammates are reading (and sneak into other groups to check), and next you know your TBR is doubled (at least). :D

Oh thank god! lol I'd probably join more than 15 but I'm scared that I'll never do anything else if I add more ;) Congrats on finishing one! And.I'm the same way, I like the long term, do at your own pace challenges because my schedule changes a lot. I got through periods of easy work where I can read pretty much all day, then really intense periods where I'm doing a lot of physical labor around 50 hrs a week. Those times I sleep more than I read! Do you have a specific favorite challenge? From.what I've seen there are so many creative ones...since I am also a TV addict, I like the in-depth, task oriented television challenges. I'm thinking of creating some myself- maybe for Homeland and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Good thing with challenges is that you can use same book in all of them. You just need to figure out how to fit that book in. :P
Looking through challenges I'm in, most of them are game based (monopoly, clue, Yahtzee,...). Or those that help you start finish series.
I usually stay away from spell-out ones since there are some tricky letters to find. Especially since other groups aren't this lax and you can use only title or author (over here you can use series and characters also.)
You can make your own challenge, no problem. Just check rules first. Or you can freestyle it (please read rules first).
And of course in true spirit of challenge enabler, here is link for reading challenge index (in case you need it ☺)

Thanks! Been through the whole index, and realized just how giddy I get around lists of reading tasks lol I definitely want to play the Monopoly one once I finish one of my current challenges. And definitely will check out those rules :)

As far as I know, there isn't Monopoly game in this group. Yet. Need to go back to drawing board for that one, but reading is so much more fun. *sigh*

Have you considered joining Tower Teams? Nothing challenging about that one (for now ☺). You just read books and hang out with other members.

Oooo that looks fun! I might just sign up. One of these days I've got to figure out how to organize my shelves. Reading the rules now.

Signed up! Because that looks so fun...although some of you can read books like you are drinking a glass of water lol I always thought I was a great reader but....woah. I'm blaming graduate school but that wouldn't be completely fair lol

lol
I'll let you in on a secret... audiobooks (and ebooks). They really speed up your reading.
Not to mention difference between doorstopers and smaller books. There is a reason some are called light reading. :P

Trueee I just got into the audiobook game. I've just started exercising on a regular basis and the audiobooks are piling up as I try to get myself to walk and run for longer periods of time. But I am a stickler for the longer books.

❀Tea❀ wrote: "15?!
I'm currently in 30 of them. Well, 29 actually (just finished one :P)"

Lightweight! *grinning* I just finished three challenges last night that I still need to post as completed, so now I'm down to only 59 challenges. That number hasn't been under 60 for quite some time :)

Lol Barb I am really seeing your point. Once I get used to my increased rapid reading spree, I'm going to have to try to catch up with all of you! Everyone watch out because that's it, I'm stepping up my game. ;)

Guess who just made a reading plan spreadsheet? This girl, that's who.

Barb wrote: "Lightweight! *grinning* I just finished three challenges last night that I still need to post as complete..."

*bows head*
I'm so ashamed right now.
I've finished few more last week or so and still looking for right replacement. :P
I've noticed that every so often I spend more time on updating challenges than reading book for them ☺

Taryn wrote: "Guess who just made a reading plan spreadsheet? This girl, that's who."

Yay!
Do you plan to stick to it? :P

Well....lol to some extent. It's really for those challenges which require me to progress through the levels. That way I can actually prioritize.

❀Tea❀ wrote: "I've noticed that every so often I spend more time on updating challenges than reading book for them ☺"

Yeah, I find that too, especially if I wait too long to update them. I've been trying to make it a point to update a handful of challenges every evening, so it's not *quite so overwhelming to keep up with. That's a little easier to do now that it's football season, and I can update my challenges while still watching the games :)

Taryn wrote: "Guess who just made a reading plan spreadsheet? This girl, that's who."

Good for you! I keep my active challenges in one (massive!) Word document, in chronological order (by end date). If I see that a deadline is coming up soon and I still need to read three books to complete that challenge, I make it a point to get to those books sooner rather than later. It sounds complicated, but it works for me :)

I'm a challenge addict and proud, I've had to create my own group just to keep track of all the challenges i'm participating in. so far this year i've got 43/76 completed out of my challenges, but that does not include monthly and quarterly challenges and team challenges. here is the link to my group if you wanna check it out https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/... I love making list and organizing everything.

I would have to say my favourite is Team challenges, which i only started joining this year but the challenges that I join the most would be the Spell-it-out ones beacuase there is not always a time limit and when that happens i love to choose really long words so there are lots of letters and they last longer. Am I the only one that does that. I'm crazy :)

You are definitely not the only one who does that! I created my own group too, and even made a post with challenges I would like to potentially try out in the future. And I love making the words long in the spell-out challenges. In that Chocolate challenge, my desserts are just insanely long.

It is very rarely that I bring my self to say no to a challenge unless I read what it's about and then i'm not interested, which does happen quite a bit, but if I see a spell-it-out challenge i will join before even reading what it's about. I went all out when I joined this character names challenge which is an A-Z challenge in another group I went with names from my favourite series Immortals after dark, I didn't just do their names but their titles also.

I have 12 challenges going at the moment. I'm tracking mine HERE I tend to go for the shorter challenges or take the easier option so that I can finish them and start a new one. I try not to have too many going at once or I lose track and it takes too long to track. I need that time to write new challenges. Oh, and to read books.

I also have a private group to keep track of my challenges and I am also sitting at just over 50 - which is a combination of monthly, annual and go-your-own pace challenges. I just can't help but sign up for new ones when they get put up! Also, the longer and bigger the challenge the better for me. I have only just got into the spell-it-out ones, but I am already amassing a need for lots of O and U books!

I love reading a book and then seeing where it fits. I tend not to plan too much although occasionally I have to, especially where I need a specific book to finish a challenge. But that is great - it makes me look for books which I might not naturally go for. I have read genres I wouldn't normally read and I have picked up authors I had never heard of before just because I needed something for a challenge.

I really enjoy the team challenges because they force me to get books finished in a certain time frame and I have loved meeting people here on Goodreads. Frankly, it is all so addictive, I am on here checking several times a day. I have been known to see a new challenge and wait for a bit until someone else has signed up just because I don't want to keep seeming so eager!

I'm currently in about 15. I have a private group for my challenges as well and I was in about 35, but it was too many. It took too long to update all of them. So, I finished off a few and put a few on hold to start later. Fifteen is a much more reasonable number for me. I'd like to get down to 10 and finish one before I start another, but it is so difficult not to join!

I am the same way Kristie. I also started a group to put up a list of all my challenges. I was only going to do 15, but now I'm in about 18 against my better judgement. I think I'm going to stop now though. I spend more time updating them all than actually reading. I would like to finish one and then swap them out.

Wow, you guys are hardcore! I only have eight going right now and I still feel pressure to read all my October books on time.

Between that and library due dates I feel like I've boxed myself into a corner a little... kind of want to make my own challenge for next month with the only rule being that I have to avoid the allure of other short-term challenges and read several books that have been languishing on my shelves!

It's fun to update challenge posts, though, whenever I finish a book. Sometimes it's even more fulfilling than the actual reading! :)

Taryn - Yes!! I felt like I was spending more time updating my challenges than reading too. So now, I wait until I have a few books to update, but then I feel like I'm missing things. It's difficult to keep track of books that you need to read for one specific challenge when you have so many going.

Beth - My goal for this year was to read more books that I want to read just because I want to and less for challenges, BOMs, etc. I even joined a challenge which was to list 12 books that you really want to read this year. It didn't work out so well. lol I didn't finish that easy, peasy challenge and I still have too many other challenges to wrap up and now too many books to review as well. I haven't given up though! That will be my New Year's reading resolution again this year.

Taryn I like just found you on here but somehow I KNEW you'd be in this forum. My challenge addiction got so bad that I now have a private group to keep track of all of my challenges that is separated by group and each challenge has it's own folder.

I think right now I'm in 27 challenges? It's gotten so bad that I join groups if I see that they have challenges that I would want to do. (Secret: that's why I joined this group.)

Taryn wrote: "Guess who just made a reading plan spreadsheet? This girl, that's who."

What does this spreadsheet look like!? I need something like this and would like to steal your idea

Beth (Ducky) wrote: "Taryn I like just found you on here but somehow I KNEW you'd be in this forum. My challenge addiction got so bad that I now have a private group to keep track of all of my challenges that is separa..."

LOL Beth: It's as plain as the look on my face that I'm addicted to challenges! I do the exact same thing. I have a private group with links to all of my challenges so that when I finish a book, I can just go down the list and check them all off. I also do reading challenges on Librarything.com so it's a lot of work lol

My spreadsheet is literally just an excel with headings of Title, Author, Date Started and then a column heading for each challenge I have. I put an X in all the rows the book fits the challenge for and make notes next to it...for example, if I have to wait to progress to another color or something

The sad thing is...I don't put this much effort into my job for gods sakes!

I joined GR this year and went overboard with all the challenges. Now I am truly trying to visit each group and challenge to see which one I have participated in and what is the status of that challenge! I am totally disorganised. I did try making an excel sheet with all the challenges I participated in, but that was in the beginning, when I was really organised! But somewhere along the year, life happened and I simply forgot to update it with the newer ones while also forgetting to update the status of each!

Sigh I am in a really bad place where challenges are concerned right now. But I plan to use these two remaining months to get back on track and try and complete as many as I can. Luckily for me, most of my challenges are long term ones, so I am not afraid of not completing it by the year end :)

@Taryn - I love your spreadsheet idea.. I am going to steal it (sorry informing you in advance about it) :P :)

Is it bad that I've already planned which yearly challenges I'm starting in 2015?

This is how I'm doing my spreadsheet! This is just one of the challenges that I'm doing but I'll be doing more spreadsheets for all of my challenges

Orange is the books that I've already picked but haven't read yet. Pink is the books that I picked and already read for the challenge. Blue is the ones that I need books for. (If you have any suggestions, let me know!)

Y'all steal whatever you like! Beth LOVE it! Color coding is definitely key.

I'm probably going to start a spreadsheet for buddy reads considering those are gonna be a big part of my life soon lol

Spreadsheets are so addicting! I may need to start a spreadsheet for buddy reads too! Right now I'm trying to get as many of my 12+2 books done so I'm trying not to start any new challenges but I can't resist the good ones

So Idk what time it is there, but it's around 2:30 here and I have to start driving in an hour so I'm loading up all my audio books on Overdrive to get ready!

I have to teach an 8 am class and a 2 pm class tomorrow in a town 2 and a half hours away from here, and just finished writing my lecture now so LOL See?! Told you I was better at scheduling reading than my job.

We are on the same time zone! I don't go into work until 3 pm but yeah I'm always more organized when it comes to reading and organizing bookish things than I am organizing for my job

One day maybe reading WILL be my job...okay...I'm not quite sure what job that is but lol

All of my life I've been picturing this job where I just get paid to read books. That's all I do. It's a great pipe dream!

Me too! But in my dream for some reason I'm always sitting on a train surrounded by books. Too much EM Forster or something.

I have absolutely no clue about how many challenges I've joined. But it's so many that I had to create a group with them all.
I have also told myself not to join anymore until I at least finish some of them :)

How do you use a spreadsheet, I've never done that. Maybe it will be easier for me to have an overview of the challenges. It takes me several hours to update my challenges every time I finish a book.

Anita, I will show you how I do mine! Give me a couple minutes to get the pictures set up

First one is my 12+2 spreadsheet. I highlight the books I've read, the book I'm currently reading, and the book I'm reading next. This way I can see all the white dwindle down.



I've already posted this next one, but I'll post it again. It's for the challenges. I put the requirement and what book I choose for the requirement. I then highlight which books I've picked and read, which books I've picked but haven't read yet, and which requitements I haven't picked a book for yet.



This last one is one that I do every day (I haven't updated it for a few days though.) This is how I keep track of how many pages I'm reading. I post the book, author, total pages of book, how many pages I read that day, and what page I started on. I then keep track of how many pages I read in the month on the far right.

I'll have to try it out. Although it will take a while for me to make a spreadsheet that includes all my challenges.

I am dead impressed by the spreadsheets! I might borrow that idea as well...

I have a few different documents that I keep my books organized in. Aside from my private group, I have documents for BOMs, reviews that I agreed to, challenges that need to be completed, and one that schedules those reads. I am constantly adjusting them to keep them current. I was recently told that I spend more time planning than reading. lol That might be true, but in fairness, I think he was including my GR time, which would definitely be true lately. I recently decided to postpone some of the challenges I signed up for until next year to get it under control, so I also know some of the challenges I'll be doing in 2015.

As far as my buddy reads go, they are all listed (and highlighted!) in my work planner on the date they start. If any BOMs have a specific start / end date, they go in there too. Then on the side there is a long strip for additional info and I have all my planned BOMs, etc listed there and I cross them off as I go. Since I have to look at that planner almost daily, it keeps everything that I have planned fresh in my mind. Though, I will admit that I've had to explain it a couple times.

Hi, My name is Sonia and I'm a start all challenges addict. Problem is finishing them since most of the time I forgot which ones I am doing till is too late

*giggles*

Speaking of challenges.... *looks at Barb* why aren't you on the tower teams list???? You will miss all the fun!!!!


*angelic face*

Although I'm still trying to figure why everyone that visits the Scions of the Dark says Steven and Sonia in the same team? Let's grab the popcorns.

Sonia wrote: "Although I'm still trying to figure why everyone that visits the Scions of the Dark says Steven and Sonia in the same team? Let's grab the popcorns. "

Same reason all of us keep stalking Steven & Sonia show thread?