One of the major pieces of advice for new and aspiring writers is to read. Not only for inspiration and to soak up different writing styles, but to understand what is out there in the market. I used to be really well read in my genre. I used to read voraciously, but at some point the extent of my reading dropped off the face of a cliff. I think a number a factors were involved, including starting to read too many books that ended up being disappointing, in general not being able to become absorbed because my writer brain won’t turn off, and if I do become absorbed, the inability to stop reading. I know, contradictory, right? But I’m really too old to stay up all night and still go to work the next day. Also, there has been an element of wanting to avoid stories that will wreck me. So over the past few years I’ve stuck mainly to books by authors I know.

THIS IS A PROBLEM! See post about trouble finding comp titles. Ugh.

So while I don’t normally do resolutions (for reasons), this year I did do some goal planning. (Post to come.) And one of those goals was to read at least one book/month this year. Talk about a low bar, I know. But baby steps. Really, I just want to rediscover my love of reading. I’ve missed it.

To narrow down my massive amount of choices, I started thinking about some guidelines to my choices. Such as:

1. At least six authors I haven’t read before.
2. Four possible comp titles (all published within last 3 years)
3. Three YA.
4. At least three genres other than fantasy (historical, romance, science fiction etc)
5. Three historical/alternate fantasy.
6. Three by diverse authors.
7. At least six adult fantasy of any kind.
8. At least four from books I already own.
9. Two in which world is inspired by non-western cultural or historical themes.
10. No two books by same author.

Well, mainly because of having to choose four from books I already own, fitting all this criteria into twelve books is basically impossible. And there were so many books I was finding that I would love to read, especially ones being published later this year. So I’ve decided to expand my goal to EIGHTEEN books!! And hopefully, I’ll read even MORE than this, since if I start a series, I can’t count any sequels toward my eighteen. Also, it’s clear I can up my number in a couple of my criteria above. For example, more YA (6) and more diverse authors (6), non-western setting (4).

So far I’ve picked out 10 books (numbers in parentheses are the criteria they fulfill):

1. Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson; January book, completed! (7,8)
2. Updraft by Fran Wilde; February book, started & loving it so far! (1, 7, 8)
3. The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay (5, 7, 8)
4. The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Pirates by Mackenzie Lee (3, 4) out Oct 2
5. The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang (1, 5, 6, 7) out May 1
6. Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi (1, 3, 6, 9) out March 6
7. Witchmark by C.L. Polk (1, 2, 5, 7) out June 19
8. Flame in the Mist by Renée Aheidh (1, 3, 5, 6, 9)
9. House of Shattered Wings by Ailette de Bodard (1, 2, 5, 6, 7)
10. Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley (1, 2, 5, 6, 7)

Since the priority is my genre alternate/historical fantasy and finding comp titles, that is mostly what I focused on above. So I’ll have room to explore other genres and sub-genres and read sequels to series I’ve already started reading. The next Nora Roberts Romantic suspense, Kevin Hearne’s last Iron Druid book, the next Honor Harrington (main series), new books by Ally Carter and Mary Robinette Kowal have a very good chance to making my list and authors I haven’t read who weren’t quite close enough to my work to make the first cut (Priest of Bones by Peter McLean, City of Lies by Sam Hawke, An Alchemy of Masks & Mirros by Curtis Craddock). I also want to check out at least one of the mega best selling YA series by Leigh Bardugo, Sarah J. Maass or Victoria Aveyard (I’m sure there are others too). Hmmm. I might need to raise the bar again!

Any suggestions? Am I forgetting some criteria I should be considering? Wish me luck!