I am on the verge of completing my 2012 reading challenge. I set myself the aim of reading 366 books. I am currently reading number 365 and I am quietly confident that I will make my target. I will write a separate blog post about it. This post however is my challenge for 2013. I did not want to post it next week as it would strike me too much of a New Year’s Resolution and too easy to break.

I have spent the last 4 years doing reading challenges and book binges. I can honestly say that though they stretch me timewise, they do not challenge me as I love reading. I have noted that my reading was much broader 4 years ago when I look at previous years’ books. I now read romance novels almost exclusively but this does not concern me. 20 years ago I read literature almost exclusively. Reading preferences change over time. But what reading does is make me sedentary and this is not good. I need to get up, stretch, walk and exercise and I am going to do a Reading in Action challenge.

My Reading in Action challenge is the following:

To walk 5 kilometres for every book I read with more than 100 pages

To walk 1 kilometre for every 20 pages for books with less than 100 pages

To not start another book until I have completed my associated walking, the exception being picture books as I usually read 4 or 5 in a sitting at which point I will do the cumulative walking after the one sitting

If it is a rainy season, I will use my rowing machine as a substitute to cover the same distance.

I will continue reading at my own pace and I will keep track of books on Goodreads as I have been doing for many years (on WeRead before I moved to GR). I will specifically be noting my Australian Women Writer’s Reading and Reviewing books (AWW13) and following the www.readwatchplay.wordpress.com monthly themes but I am not going to set any targets.

I guess my next step after writing this blog post is buying a pair of walking shoes.