I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to keep blogging about my reading challenge each day. There’s not much to say. I read some books. Two hours (give or take). The end.

Maybe if I was finishing a book every other day or so, but I’m not a fast reader, so I’ll be reading Pachinko and The Door to Saturn for several more weeks at least.

I did start a new book today: 100 Essays I Don’t Have Time to Write by Sarah Ruhl. Good so far, but I only read the first essay. Very relatable. Ruhl is a playwright and mother of three kids. I too am the mother of three kids who writes stuff. So, yeah, it’s in my wheelhouse.

But really, what more is there to say about my reading today? Not much.

The reading challenge posts are good because they make me blog everyday, but I’m not sure the “reading” part should be emphasized as much, unless I read something that I want to review or whatever. The “challenge” part can be emphasized, I guess, if I ever had anything insightful to say about sticking with or completing a challenge, but alas, I can’t even go five days without flaking out.

I do like blogging everyday, so maybe I mention the challenge in my daily blog posts but don’t make a big deal out of it.  The book-reading challenge is still a thing, just chillin’ in the background.

I will say, James Clear’s book for developing daily habits is still the best thing I’ve read on forming habits, and even though I failed to meet my challenge yesterday, knowing that all I needed to do was accept it and make sure not to miss two days in a row was enough to get me motivated again. In the past, when I would miss doing something I promised to do daily (i.e.: not say my Lenten rosary), I would beat myself up about it. I would get ridiculously discouraged, and basically, give up on the whole thing.

Clear’s advice — to just let yourself miss that day and make sure not to miss more than two in a row — was mind-altering. Here was a productivity guru guy telling me it was okay to miss a day, that it didn’t mean I was a failure, and all I needed to do was just make sure to get back to my habit the next day. It sounds so obvious, but Clear gave me permission to accept that sometimes I would mess up, and messing up doesn’t mean the habit is destroyed. Also, better to read for five minutes if that’s all you can do than to not read anything because you didn’t have the perfect two hours of reading time all laid out.

I’ve learned this lesson with my writing too. I wish I could write for four hours a day, but realistically, that doesn’t ever happen. Instead, I write when I can with the time that is given to me. I try to keep my regular morning writing time, but even if I don’t, one sentence in my manuscript is better than none. Amazingly, one sentence every day can add up to a novel.

(Luckily, I’m able to write more than one sentence a day… most days!)