I went in to 2014 with a lofty {for me} goal of reading 12 books this year. What I have found is what any one does when they set out to achieve something: once I started doing, it all started happening!

I thought it would be really challenging for me to accomplish reading one book in 30 days. What I had forgotten is how I love characters, syntax, diction, and how my mind comes to know a story intimately. Initially I had set 12 books as a goal because I needed to have a sense of accomplishment. I needed to be able to start & finish something; give me accomplishment that didn’t depend on anyone else saying, “good job!” but something I could just know, “I did it!”

I didn’t expect that it would: inspire my own writing, challenge my own thinking, become a source of relaxation, and generate fun conversations. Reading had gone from something I had to do in college (conversating among the round tables at Saint Mary’s during what is called Seminar) to being enjoyable again.

I am someone who indulges in song lyrics and the way an author writes like the way others can lose themselves in a painting or building a car. I found myself highlighting sentences and then realizing they were too good to be forgotten. I pulled out one of the three paper journals from 9th Letter Press that I had won in a giveaway and decided to comb back through the books I had already finished in 2014:

 

I started writing down every.single.bit painted in yellow. There are words my heart relates to, sentences that made me laugh out loud, and thoughts that made me think deeper:

“….and it occurred to me that the voracious ambition of humans is never sated by dreams coming true because there is always the thought that everything might be done better again.” -The Fault in Our Stars

“If you want to write, then you should write, but always remember to write the truth as you see it, not as people wish it to be seen.” -A Quiet Belief in Angels

“The sooner you learn it’s on you to make life interesting the better off you’ll be.” -Where’d You Go Bernadette

I want more inspiration, more laughter, and more accomplishment. For so many years I have looked to others to validate me professionally and personally, denied myself the simple pleasures because I thought it was my job and purpose as a mother and wife to sacrifice all of me all the time; I was wrong.

I know…they’re just books…but they’re my books.