The best way to get young people to invest their time in reading is being willing to invest time in it ourselves.

At the beginning of every year, I reevaluate my reading habits. I love to read but sometimes I find that reading gets put on the back burner more often while other activities take priority. Sometimes these activities, especially family-related and work-related, NEED to take priority, but I find there are still ways to find more time to read. How do YOU make more time to read? Answer my survey here. I'll post results in this blog.

This year, I've signed up for Goodreads 2020 Reading Challenge. I'm starting out with a goal of 100 books. This includes picture books, so I'm actually aiming for MORE than 100. In addition to being realistic, however, I also don't want to be tempted to speed-read. With picture books, for example, I want to start going through new and not-so-new picture books and read them more thoughtfully, both for enjoyment but also more analytically (how the text and illustrations interact, etc).

Anyway....I've updated my post below in case one or more tips might help others. You might also want to check out what parents suggested in my "Finding Time To Write (Even If You Have Kids)" survey.

1. I have multiple print books on the go, and keep them around the house. I usually have print books that I'm in the midst of reading in our bedroom, my office, living room, dining room, etc. Print books have the advantage over ebooks here in that just SEEING them reminds me to read them.

2. I read books on my iPhone. Yes, the screen is small but I enlarge the text to make reading comfortable. This is super-handy for reading when I may only have a few minutes, like when I'm in a line-up or waiting for someone. Or when I'm in a super-crowded subway train and am holding onto a support pole with one hand....but I can easily reach into my purse, pull out my iPhone and flip through pages with my other hand.

3. I read books on my iPad. I have an iPad Pro and find it a bit too heavy to hold for reading unless it's propped up somehow, but I find that using a pillow or my knees works fine. I prefer print books for the esthetic experience (turning print pages, feel of of a physical book etc.) but I do find that the backlit screen on my iPad enables me to read even in places with dim lighting. Some are ebooks I've bought, some are borrowed from the Toronto Public Library.

4. I read books on my Kindle. Because the Kindle is lightweight and loaded up with a lot of my ebooks, I can avoid angsting over what book to take on out-of-town trips ("I'm 3/4 of way through this book so if I finish it on the plane, what do I read next? Should I bring an extra just in case? But I'm trying to travel with just carry-on augh" etc.), I just take my Kindle and I have access to many books-on-the-go.

5. I listen to audiobooks. I remember avoiding audiobooks in the beginning because I never considered it REAL reading, plus I didn't think I could really enjoy a book by just listening to it. Then my husband played an audiobook (I can't remember the title...something about divers and scavenging in deep waters) on a long car trip and I was surprised to find it an immersive reading experience. The narration is important, though -- a bad narrator will totally turn me off a book, so I make it a habit of always listening to a sample first. I have an Audible subscription but I also borrow audiobooks from the Toronto Public Library. Whenever I'm at certain stages in book illustration, I listening to audiobooks as I draw.

SUMMARY:

As long as the story is good, I am willing to read it in any format. I do make a point of buying books from indie bookstores but I have found that my appetite for reading makes it impractical (from a budget standpoint) to buy all my reading material. The Toronto Public Library is a wonderful resource, with print and ebook and audiobooks available.

Also, I squeeze in reading whenever I can. While I'd love to save my reading stints for when I have an entire afternoon to curl up on the couch with a good book, reality is that if I always waited for The Perfect Reading Day, I wouldn't be reading nearly as many books as I do now. Before my recent eye surgery, I also found it a challenge to read a regular print book.

And as summer approaches, consider participating in Donalyn Miller's #BookADay Challenge!

SURVEY:

How do YOU make time to read? Answer my 3-question poll here.

OTHER RESOURCES ON HOW TO MAXIMIZE YOUR READING TIME:

11 Ways Busy People Make Time To Read - by Eva Lantsoght on Lifehack.org

The Best Way To Find More TIme To Read - on FS Farnam Street's blog

How To Read Even More In 2019 by Strand bookstore

5 Ways To Find More Time To Read - by Kristin Wong on Mentalfloss.com

25 Expert Tips To Reading WAY More Books This Year - by John Rampton on Inc.com

Finding it a challenge to carve out time for your writing because of other work or life commitments? I encourage you to join me in my Daily Writing Challenge. Even 100 words a day adds up! I also have an Inkygirl Daily Writing Challenge Facebook Page.

One of my goals in 2020 is to not only be more diligent about writing something FIRST THING in the day, but also not to be so picky about what I write (social media posts don't count, though :-)).

Reason: Last year, I was always trying to work on my middle grade novel first thing in the morning. While my goal of morning writing worked sometimes, there were many mornings when I just had too much going on. I'd be distracted because I'd be on the road, or have morning appointments, be stressed about book illustration deadlines.

As a result, I ended up NOT writing many mornings. That fed into my growing overall frustration at my lack of progress, and eventually I just gave up.

Keep in mind that I never have trouble focusing on contracted book work. If someone is expecting work from me and I have a deadline, that's one thing. My middle grade novel project, however, tend to always be shoved to the back burner. Part of the reason, I know, is psychological. In the stupid part of my brain: "Once I finish writing and revising, I'll have to start sending them out into the world, and what if I end up getting nothing but rejections again?" 

But I'm also aware that I've spent so many years focusing on illustration work that my writing muscles still feel rusty, and that's feeding into my whole "but what if I can't write anymore" insecurities.

The solution, I think, is that I need to write a LOT more, and on a daily basis, even if it's not writing for my middle grade novels. I like what Jeff Goins said in his post, My Morning Routine In 10 Simple Steps. After breakfast every morning, he writes something.

From the Goinswriter.com article on a morning routine:

This can be a blog post, book chapter, article, or just some random notes to myself. For me, it’s not about what I write as much as it is important just to write. Usually, I wrote around 1000 words; sometimes less, sometimes more.

I've started to do this as well. Sometimes I write by hand in one of my Rhodia hardbound journals (also an excuse to use one of my fountain pens), sometimes I write on the computer. Sometimes poetry, a sentence or two from an imaginary story that doesn't (yet) exist, stream-of-consciousness first-person of one of the characters in my book, sometimes a blog post.

Do you do morning writing? Do you have a life that makes finding writing time a challenge? Feel free to post below.

My grandfather, Allan Linder, age 94, passed away on Tuesday. Not Covid-19 related, and that’s only one of the things that’s been very surreal about the last few weeks. Telling people, “My grandpa is sick – it’s not covid,” as a kind of verbal footnote. He went into hospice care in early February after a […]

The first version of Aquarionics Dot Com went up on the 27th December 1999. It was built in hand-written HTML, had an “innovative” navigation system that included javascript files so I only had to update them in one place (and…

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Evening - FAIR

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Britt Adamson, an assistant professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, has been named a 2020 Searle Scholar. The program supports bold research programs with the potential to discover fundamental insights and improve health.

May 2020 list of University employee obituaries.

May 2020 list of University employee retirements

The award recognizes those who have demonstrated a strong commitment to the undergraduate experience through dedicated efforts in student organizations, athletics, community service, religious life, residential life and the arts.

B3ta newsletter 745 out now: * FONTS - Not without swearing. Hooray! * DOCTOR WHO - Played on the bass guitar. Oh yes * FESSHOLE - Best posts of April in one handy link

The following summarize enforcement actions the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 10 office completed in January and February of 2020. The concluding legal document(s) typically provide details of the case and are included at the end of each summary.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: R3press@epa.gov U.S. EPA Honors 2020 ENERGY STAR® Partners of the Year in Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, DC and West Virginia

New York, N.Y. – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 2 and the U.S. Department of Energy are honoring 10 ENERGY STAR partners for their outstanding contributions to public health and the environment.

New York, N.Y. – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 2 and the U.S. Department of Energy are honoring 18 ENERGY STAR partners for their outstanding contributions to public health and the environment.

Asia and Middle East cruises axed

It asks for patience while it processes refunds and credit notes

Huntington Beach California USA Huntington Beach

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31st December 2019It has been a while since I last wrote 30th August actually. We were just back from Bali and waiting for the mango season to start. Well we never did get any work but that was OK. Danie has done a lot of

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YOU CAN CLICK ON ANY PHOTO TO ENLARGE IT RECOMMENDED THEN GO BACK TO THE BLOG OR GO THROUGH THE 67 PHOTOS CLICK ON NEXT OR PREVIOUS IN THAT ENLARGED FORMAT. I PUT LOTS OF INFORMATION IN THE PHOTO CAPTIONS SO YOU CAN SKIP THE NARRATIVE JUST LO

The organisers of the Galway Races have announced that this year's festival will not go ahead in its traditional form, in light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Connacht GAA president Gerry McGovern believes the risks of a return to playing action this year are too high and has instead urged the Association to focus completely on the 2021 All-Ireland Championships.

The GAA's management committee and chairpersons from each county board will meet remotely today to discuss the future of the 2020 All-Ireland Championships.

Pat Spillane believes the GAA "kicked the can" down the road with its most recent statement regarding the 2020 championships, while Anthony Daly argues the longer-term view was the correct call.

Winter is outside, but it is pretty hot in our labs.  We have prepared several good updates for you this January. Please enjoy and get ready for more!
Content Recycle

As you know, the main idea of RSS Ground posting services is gradual updates with unique content. Our posting campaigns functionality is built to ensure your blogs and social network accounts are constantly updated with fresh content. But sometimes, re-posting already posted content may have a rationale.
According ...

The post RSS Ground Changelog January 2020 appeared first on RSSground.com.

Time flies fast, especially when you are busy doing something you like and care about. This time we have added a improved image posting to Facebook pages and groups, additional options for feed editing and a bit more clear error notifications in feeds Preview.
Improved image posting to Facebook

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Before, when you made a post to your Facebook, only one image (photo) was attached to it. But now, if there are several images associated ...

The post RSS Ground Changelog February 2020 appeared first on RSSground.com.

RSS Ground team now works from home. But we are still efficient and productive. Here is what we did for you in March plus some of our plans for the future.
YouTube Feeds Now require API key

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Because of the new limitations at Google developers platform, search requests for YouTube videos now have to be signed with a personal user key.
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Epidemic situation in the World has influenced all of us a lot. Many businesses started paying more attention to their online presence as many people started to look for more opportunities to make additional money online. Affiliate marketing is what comes to mind in such a situation. Following this trend we decided to enrich our arsenal of tools with new affiliate feeds generators. Here is what was done in April of 2020.
Best Buy Feeds generator

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The post RSS Ground Changelog April 2020 appeared first on RSSground.com.

In response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the US government brought about a collection of fiscal stimulus measures: the 2020 CARES Act. Among other provisions, this Act directed cash payments to households. We analyze households’ spending responses using high-frequency transaction data. We also explore heterogeneity by income levels, recent income declines, and liquidity. We find that households respond rapidly to receipt of stimulus payments, with spending increasing by $0.25-$0.35 per dollar of stimulus during the first 10 days. Households with lower incomes, greater income drops, and lower levels of liquidity display stronger responses. Liquidity plays the most important role, with no observed spending response for households with high levels of bank account balances. Relative to the effects of previous economic stimulus programs in 2001 and 2008, we see much smaller increases in durables spending and larger increases in spending on food, likely reflecting the impact of shelter-in-place orders and supply disruptions. We hope that our results inform the current debate about appropriate policy measures.

Great deals on helmets, bikes, dropper posts, apparel and more in this month's Online Deals.
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Tá sé deimhnithe ag an Aire Oideachais agus Eolaíochta, Joe McHugh go bhfuil scrúduithe na hArdteistiméireachta don bhliain seo curtha ar ceal agus go bhfuil Plean "C", mar a bhfaighfidh daltaí grádanna tuartha óna meánscoil féin, le teacht ina n-áit.

Lakers star LeBron James heads a list of 44 players nominated to represent the U.S. at the upcoming Summer Olympics. Others include Kawhi Leonard and Damian Lillard.

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USC had a commitment from Bryce Young, the top-ranked quarterback, in the 2020 recruiting class. When Young flipped to Alabama, the Trojans' backup plan crumbled.