It’s that time of year again, when kids go back to school. I’m going to be hitting the books again, but not in the same way.

I have always loved reading, but lately, this hobby has been put on the back burner. In fact, most of my previously-loved hobbies have been shelved for a while: reading, photography, blogging (obvs)…. It’s hard to say why in particular. I’ve been working a lot, spending time with my goddaughter and her family, and when I come home, I tend to watch TV while I eat dinner and this turns into several hours of TV and then bedtime. I used to read at dinner.

One of my friends, Monica, mentioned a BookTuber whose channel is @Booksandlala (also Instagram, etc.), and I’ve been watching Kayla/Lala’s content for the past several days. This has made me want to get back into the reading habit again.

As always, this year I made a ridiculously high number of books as my goal in Goodreads: 102! So far, I’ve only read 33, so I will have to read one book every two days to get back on track and make my reading goal by the end of the year. In addition, I set my goal to 102, because I decided to participate in several challenges (PopSugar, Goodreads YA Group), so I have committed (maybe less than true commitment, perhaps more like vaguely intended) to reading books within particular parameters. I see this as less likely to be completed by the end of the year. I tend to read more when I can have free-reign over what I decide to pick up.

Since it is the end of August, I want to set up a TBR list for September and then track the number of books/pages that I read in September. I also went onto my Goodreads account and cleared out my Currently Reading section. Most of the books on that list were ones that I have started, that I still intend on finishing, but that I haven’t touched in years. I figure it’s better to put them as Want to Read – I’ll probably have to start from the beginning anyway when I go to pick them up again.

This also means that I should dedicate at least some time every day to reading. Today, I want to work on finishing Jennifer Fulwiler’s book, “One Beautiful Dream.” I had read about half of it in one sitting as soon as I got it, but then it was set down and I haven’t circled back to it. That’s no reflection on the book – the book is fantastic! – but more on the chaotic nature of my life.