Six months.
181 stories.
667,814 words.
To be honest, I’m a little surprised that I’ve managed to keep going this long without missing a single day. (Full disclosure, I came close once – had gone to bed and was drifting to sleep when I remembered I hadn’t read it yet. I grabbed my phone to read it and finished the story at 11:58 p.m.) I usually read them in the morning while I eat breakfast and drink my coffee, though there have been a few days where I’ve had to roll out of bed and hit the road or there’s something else that requires my attention.
I will say that I haven’t loved every story I’ve read – but that’s not the point. None of us will love everything we read. The goal was to read new stories, experience new authors. And the important thing is that I have learned something from each story. Some of them have even given me ideas for stories I’d like to write (if only I had the time).
The best part? The slow mornings. I mentioned in a post early in the challenge that a change for me during this pandemic is a slow morning. No more turning off the alarm clock and jumping right into work. (Another bit of full disclosure – I’m not a morning person. This doesn’t mean that I’m not productive in the mornings. More so – I’m just not ready to interact with people first thing. There is a “no one calls Ami before 9 a.m. rule in my family” for this very reason. To be fair, my sister would call at 6 a.m. on her way to work because she was bored on her drive.) Before, mornings were something to get through until I was ‘fully awake.’
Now they are something to enjoy. Breakfast. Coffee. Story. I’m going to be sad when the year is over – but I’m not sure I will re-up the challenge for next year. It’s a lot of work to track down and schedule stories. But I will keep the slowness. Perhaps read a chapter in my current book or something along those lines. Only time can tell – and I’ve got sick more months of stories to read first.
My favorite story so far is still “Paper Menagerie” by Ken Liu – the story I read way back on January 14.
Ami Maxine 