Happy New Year, Book Lovers!

[image description: red background with the words "new year, new reading goals to slay, in blueish gray font]

Happy New Year, book lovers! 

I hope your 2018 is off to a wonderful start. I've already finished one book––a volume of poetry that I was halfway through at the end of 2017. 

I know some people don't believe in New Year's resolutions and that's cool. But I think there's something to be said for new beginnings and starting fresh, no matter what day you decide to do it. And if one of your goals is to read more, I want to help. 

I read 101 books in 2017. If you'd asked me on January 1st last year if I could've read that many books, I would've told you no. But somehow, it didn't feel like work. I listened to audiobooks when doing chores around the house, I read in the evenings and before bed and somehow it came out to 101 books in a single calendar year. 

I'm not special, I don't speed read, and I don't have epic amounts of time on my hands. I have a full-time job, write essays and book reviews for magazines, maintain this blog, and watch long-ass TV shows like The West Wing and Gilmore Girls. I'm just a normal person who values reading time as me time and it really adds up after awhile.

Trust me, if I can read 101 books in a year, you totally can too.

But it's not about the number, it's about what feels good to you. Whether your goal is 10 books a year or 200, those are GREAT goals and I want to help. 

People ask me all the time how I read so many books, so I put together all my best tips in a handy dandy pdf. When you subscribe to my email newsletter you'll get an immediate follow-up email with the pdf. It's totally free, just something I made to help you guys (and it's a little long for a blog post, hence the email signup). 

I've already heard from several people who said the tips helped them work a lot more reading into their everyday life, so I hope it'll do the same for you! Whatever your reading goals are, I want you to feel empowered to slay them. 

And if you have any questions or just want support as you're reading this year, join the Off the Beaten Shelf Facebook group. We're a fun bunch and have a lot of fun nerding out about books.

Happy reading! 

xo
Mandy