Thanksgiving Day Special: Guest Post by Ashlie at Bookish Novelties!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my wonderful bloggy friends! I hope you're all having a fabulous day of food, fun and family! And good luck to all the brave souls hitting the shopping circuit in the morning...I'll be out there in the trenches with you guys, battling for good deals on Christmas presents. Here's hoping I get my hands on one of those $99 Nooks at Best Buy!

As a special Thanksgiving treat, we have a guest post from my good friend Ashlie at Bookish Novelties! She's got an awesome blog that is definitely worth a follow. She's got great reviews that she posts frequently, some great thought-provoking posts and she's hosting her first giveaway right now! So after you read this awesome post, head over to Bookish Novelties and check it out!

Now that the end of the year is brooding, everyone is gearing up for the new challenges that they will participate in for 2011. Did you do participate in a challenge this year that you didn't finish, or don't anticipate finishing? Are you feeling a bit down because of it? Me too! But hey, we're human, and life is busy! So here are some steps to realistic reading challenge goal-setting to ensure that next year, the challenges you participate in are successful :)

This year I am a bit over 25 books away from making my challenge goal. I'm kind of bummed about this, but I did only start it two months ago. I feel confident that if I had started it on Jan. 1, 2010 like almost everyone else did, I would have finished it.

Of course, it is SUPPOSED to be a challenge, a stretch, or a reach from what you're used to reading, but here are some general guidelines to help you when setting goals:

• Calculate what your average number of books read per week, per month and per year was this year. This can be your guide. If you started getting into heavy reading late in the year, calculate weeks and months. (Example, I read 2-3 books a week & 8-10 books a month. I started late in the year. :)

• Choose challenges that give you the liberty to chose REALISTIC numbers -- Example: 

I am participating in the 2011 Christian Fiction Reading Challenge. The goal of the challenge is to read at least 12 books from this genre. That means that as long as I read one book from this genre at least once a month, I'll be in the clear. Once I reach that goal, I can increase it in small increments, say 2, 3 or 5. This way you won't overwhelm yourself. 

• Choose genres that you actually enjoy! It makes no sense to plan to read a ton of books in a genre or subject that bores you to death!

• Find a friend (or even a book club -- or heck, start your own) to do the challenge with you! That way you guys can keep each other on track :) 

I hope this helps! If you have any tricks or ideas to share that you have learned, please let us know! Leave a comment below -- we LOVE new ideas from fellow bloggers! Fellow bloggers = fellow friend :)