Bout of Books 18: Update 1

Bout of Books 18 rolls on! I started out fairly strong, but then had a busy day followed by a couple of relatively lazy days. But...that's what I like best about BoB. No pressure, just read when and what I feel like.

I did show up for the first of two Twitter chats and it was fantastic as usual. Always so many fun people. It goes at a ridiculously fast pace. Be advised...you need TweetDeck to survive a BoB chat.

Though I haven't busted out a pile of pages, I did manage to finish my first book of 2017. On Monday, I completed John Green's An Abundance of Katherines. It was just what I always expect from a John Green read. It was relaxed and fun, the kind of book that can always drag me out of a reading slump. His books are always worth a read.

Currently Reading :

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert

I got this one from my sister-in-law when I was back in Idaho for Christmas. It's nonfiction, all about taking charge of your creativity and going after what you want to do when it comes to producing your own creative product, whatever the medium may be.

For me, this is coming at just the right time and I'm very glad she thought of me when she had an extra copy. I used to write a lot, but I've let it fall aside, questioning my own abilities and wondering what they could possibly do for me in the grand scheme of things. But this book is reminding me that it's not important that your creative endeavors result in something earth shattering or magnificent. It's important to instead pursue your creative interests with appropriate passion and a lack of fear. It's been fairly inspirational thus far.

Though I didn't set any official goals for this read-a-thon, I more or less piggybacked on a set of goals from a prior Bout of Books. And though there may not be a lot of checkmarks present on the graphic, I'm pretty pleased with how it's looking so far. Compared to my last abysmal read-a-thon performance, I'm actually making some progress. It's nice to feel like I'm getting back to the kind of reading I used to love to do.

And now...there are still three days to go. AND another Twitter chat on Saturday morning. I'm a little giddy about it.

How's your 2017 reading start going?