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I solely have one studying purpose for 2024, but it surely’s an enormous one: to put in writing about each e book I end as quickly as I end it. I learn a whole lot of books — greater than 100 yearly — so it is a pretty massive dedication when it comes to time and vitality. It’s additionally one thing I’ve been struggling to do for years. Even although I write about books for a residing (no less than part-time), put up usually on Bookstagram, and write a weekly publication that’s principally e book evaluations — effectively, final yr, I nonetheless solely reviewed 50% of the books I learn.
Sometimes I end a e book, and I simply don’t have that a lot to say about it. But far more usually, I end a e book and discover I have a complete lot to say about it — and that feels overwhelming. It’s usually so overwhelming that I simply don’t trouble. After all, it’s a lot simpler to only begin a brand new e book than it’s to take the time to untangle my ideas and emotions about no matter I simply learn. For years, I’ve let the overwhelm and the strain to put in writing a elegant and considerate evaluate scare me away from reflecting on every part I learn.
But 2024 goes to be completely different. I have learn 29 books to date this yr, and I have written about each single one in every of them. Every. Single. One. Honestly, it’s the single biggest studying achievement of my life. It has remodeled my studying life in methods even I didn’t anticipate. I’m making all types of connections between books that I wasn’t making earlier than. I’m pondering extra deeply and extra critically and extra joyfully about what I learn. I’m additionally actually having fun with the precise act of writing. I used to dread sitting down to put in writing a evaluate — not as a result of I don’t like doing it, however as a result of it at all times felt like An Event. Now it’s simply what I do. I know we’re not that deep into the yr but, but it surely’s already turn out to be a behavior. I’m dedicated.
So, how did I get to this magical new place the place I write about every part I learn? I made three guidelines for myself:
- I will write about each e book I learn as quickly as I end it.
- I will write for 10 minutes.
- This writing won’t be public.
If this sounds easy: it’s. Sometimes all it takes is a straightforward set of parameters to make one thing that felt not possible all of the sudden really feel straightforward. I am nonetheless in awe that this technique is working in addition to it’s. Maybe it would give you the results you want, too.
I will write about each e book I learn as quickly as I end it.
I truly suppose there’s an argument to be made for ready days or even weeks or months — letting a e book settle — earlier than writing a evaluate. Books aren’t static, and neither are we; how we really feel about them adjustments. So I need to notice that I don’t evaluate each e book I learn as quickly as I end it, however I do instantly write about each e book as quickly as I end it. There’s a distinction between getting my ideas down on paper in an enormous stunning jumble and crafting these ideas right into a evaluate I need to share with the world. The second factor can wait. The very first thing can’t.
Sometimes I don’t begin writing the very second I end a e book — I go for a stroll, make dinner, fold the laundry. But I don’t let various hours go by. I used to complete a e book and spend the subsequent three days excited about it. I’d muter about it to myself whereas driving and compose evaluations in my head on walks. But truly writing about it instantly? If I put it off for an hour, I may put it off for a day, or every week, or three months, by then, I’d have forgotten most of what I needed to say.
I don’t let that occur anymore, and it’s such a reduction. I’m catching all these ideas on paper as a substitute of letting them slip away! But this solely works due to the different two guidelines I’ve made for myself.
I will write for 10 minutes.
Here’s what I do: I open Notion (it’s the place I preserve my studying journal), set the timer on my telephone for 10 minutes, and begin writing. This is the secret to my success. This is why I’ve written about all 29 books I’ve completed to date this yr. Ten minutes is such a tiny period of time. I can do nearly something for ten minutes. Committing to 10 minutes is simple. Writing about books brings me pleasure; it’s beginning that’s exhausting. Starting is the overwhelming half. Creating a finite boundary — solely 10 minutes! — makes all the overwhelm disappear.
Sometimes I run out of issues to say earlier than the timer goes off, and that’s high-quality. Sometimes the timer goes off, and I’m nonetheless typing away, and I go on typing for an additional 10 minutes. I wrote over 2000 phrases about my present e book obsession, Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar. I was most likely writing for 45 minutes. It wasn’t difficult or boring or a burden. It was a pleasure. But I solely received there as a result of I instructed myself, “just 10 minutes.”
This writing won’t be public.
I used to evaluate books on Goodreads as quickly as I completed them. I’d do that sporadically. I’d evaluate each e book I learn one month and none the subsequent month. I’d write a couple of sentences a few e book I cherished, including, “more to come,” although extra by no means got here. No matter what I tried, I may by no means get right into a constant behavior.
Don’t ask me why it took me so lengthy to comprehend that instantly reviewing a e book publicly is a whole lot of pointless strain. Maybe it really works for some individuals, but it surely doesn’t work for me. When I’m pondering by means of my very own reactions to a e book, I don’t need to be coherent or polished. I need to gush and rant and repeat myself. I need to write paragraph-long sentences. I need to let the writing take me the place it takes me, not worrying about the way it sounds, not pausing to repair all the spelling errors and typos. I can’t do this sort of writing on a platform like Goodreads or Storygraph.
My fast e book reflections are stuffed with spelling errors. They are uncooked and rambling. They don’t at all times make sense, however they at all times seize every part I’m pondering and feeling a few e book. Often I uncover one thing new about the e book or myself whereas writing them as a result of I’m not preoccupied with how my sentences sound. It is superb.
I love writing and sharing e book evaluations. I love shouting about books to the world. This new course of has jogged my memory that I additionally love journaling about books — only for me — one thing I haven’t given myself permission to do in an extended, very long time.
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