Noisy Deadlines

100DaysToOffload

  • 👟 It has become warm enough to go for runs outside!

    1. Apr 25 – 4.56km (pace 7:02 min/km)

    2. May 02 – 6.6km (pace 7:04 min/km)

    3. May 04 – 7.14km (pace 6:38 min/km)

  • 🚶‍♀️‍➡️ I'm also doing more walks outdoors which is great after 8 hours stuck in an office with no windows and in those tiny cubicles.

  • 🏢 The renovations at the office are still ongoing, and I can't wait to have my proper office space again! I hate the tiny cubicles situation. It will probably be done in a month or so, fingers crossed.

  • 🛋️ We've installed some shelves in our living room.

  • 📺 I'm watching “The Rings of Power” Season 2. I only watch it to see the dwarves, they are great!

  • 📅 I'm using Cal Newport's Time Block Planner again. I have stopped using it for a few weeks, trying to use Outlook instead. But I prefer doing my daily planning on paper.

  • ✅ The Nirvana app had some updates recently, and the biggest one was that all the interfaces (web, iOS, Android, Windows) are exactly the same now. I liked that now there are color themes, and I switched from the dark theme to the customizable colored one (dark blue is my favorite right now).

  • ✏️ I wrote some thoughts about attention and how I feel so different from younger people nowadays.

  • 📖 I finished reading this amazing sci-fi novella by Beth Revis: “Full Speed to a Crash Landing”. I absolutely loved it! I already got the second one from the library.

  • 📖 I started reading “The Terraformers” for my local Bookclub and it is great!

  • 🧩 I started another puzzle. This one is a collage of all Iron Maiden album covers!

📌 Interesting reads I’ve come across these days:

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

I currently work with four colleagues who are between 15 to 20 years younger than me. They're great people, and I get along well with all of them. But recently, I’ve started to notice a clear generation gap. When they talk about things they see online—like YouTube trends, Instagram memes, or TikTok videos—I often find myself completely lost. I don’t recognize the references, and while they laugh, I realize I’m missing the context.

It’s funny, because when I was their age, I was the tech-savvy one. I was way more into computers and the internet than most of my peers.

The other day, we were chatting at lunch, and they mentioned that they CAN’T sit through a full-length movie without also using their phones, tablets, or even playing a game at the same time. They told me they just can’t focus on a single activity. There always has to be something else happening in the background, or they get bored. That completely blew my mind.

I asked them if it’s the same when they’re working, and they said yes. They often need extra stimulation while they work—whether it’s a podcast, a video, a TV show, or a documentary playing in the background. 😱 It reminded me of something I heard on Cal Newport’s Deep Questions podcast, where he described this behavior as “stimuli stacking.” That seems to describe exactly what they’re doing.

I told them I’m the opposite. I need quiet and focus to be productive. The only thing I can handle while working is music, and even then, it has to be a playlist I know well. Familiar songs become a kind of soothing background noise. Instrumental music works too, but anything with new lyrics or surprises will throw me off, especially if I’m doing mentally demanding work. Only during repetitive or mechanical tasks can I manage listening to a podcast, and even then, it has to be one I’m used to.

So, I noticed that this need for multiple sources of stimulation seems most common among people in their 20’s. I have other team members who are in their mid 30’s, and they’re more like me. They say they struggle to concentrate if something like a YouTube video is playing in the background. And they can watch a full-length movie without distractions.

Another thing I notice is that my younger colleagues will complete a task super-fast, they just want to get it done. And then I revise their work and point out things that they’ve missed or mistakes they’ve made. To me all these little errors are because they don’t take the time to reflect on what they’re doing, they don’t slow down, they don’t plan ahead. It could be just because they are young in the field, and they are still learning. But when I think about myself early in my career, I always took the time to read everything and plan how I would approach that task. I always take my time and focus on the details to understand the best way to complete an interior partitions take-off, for example.

It seems like this shift is generational. People who grew up in the 2000s were deeply shaped by the infinite amount of content and stimulation. Our patterns of attention and focus have really changed in the past few years, and now I’m really starting to see how those changes are showing up in my everyday work life.

I wonder if that’s happening everywhere, and if people in their 40’s like me are noticing the change.

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

  1. The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie, 432p: I didn't love the book, but it has a few interesting topics to dive into. The second-person narrative felt strange to me, but I can understand why it’s widely praised. For me, though, the story just felt kind of cold. I didn’t connect with the characters or cared much about what happened to them, probably because the story’s told from an ancient god’s perspective, so we’re just watching the characters instead of really getting into their heads. I didn’t like the ambiguity of the ending.

  2. Borders of Infinity (Vorkosigan Saga (Publication Order) #5.3) by Lois McMaster Bujold, 305p: Super fun read, the book is a compilation of 3 novellas:  The Mountains of Mourning (1989), Labyrinth (1989) and The Borders of Infinity (1987). The stories are focused on Miles Vorkosigan in which he tells about his insane adventures in his first years working for the ImpSec (Imperial Security). In the first one he is sent to a remote location in Barrayar to solve a local dispute. In the second one he goes to an undercover mission to rescue an important researcher, and the last one he is undercover in a very remote and high security prison camp to rescue a military person and manages to find a way to escape in the most spectacular way. But what I most liked about these stories are the diverse characters: there is a hermaphrodite from Beta Colony and various genetically altered humans with different abilities who were “discarded” by society. I love how power dynamics are explored in these stories with Miles questioning everything.

  3. The PLAN: Manage Your Time Like a Lazy Genius by Kendra Adachi, 246p: This book presents a guide to getting things done without falling into the trap of perfectionism or overwhelm. The author tries to bring a perspective more suitable to women and their struggles, since most productivity books were written by men so far. The book has a fun tone and encourages us to focus more on what matters. It's all great advice, but when she gets to the actionable steps it is basically GTD (Getting Things Done – by David Allen) with different names. So it wasn't all that revolutionary to me since I've using the GTD methodology for a while now. I was not a fan of the forced acronyms.

  4. A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher, 8 hours, 30 minutes (audio): The story is whimsical and fun, I was hooked on the very first scene. I enjoyed spending time with Mona and her curious magical abilities with bread and biscuits. I listened to the audio book, and I really like the narrator’s voice and style.

  5. Cetaganda (Vorkosigan Saga (Publication Order) #9) by Lois McMaster Bujold, 302p: Miles Vorkosigan and his cousin Ivan Vorpatril are sent to Cetaganda on a diplomatic mission to attend the state funeral of the planet's empress. They are supposed to just show diplomatic respect and not cause any trouble, but we know in this series that trouble always finds Miles. The story is a mix of political intrigue, assassins, secret agents, attempted assassinations, and the rich world building of a society obsessed with genetic engineering. For Cetagandans, genetic improvement means social advancement and the whole power structure is built around it. Miles, with his visible physical disability, tries to prove himself even more amidst a society that believes all physical “defects” must be eradicated. It was a fascinating read and the good sense of humour with snarky remarks about ethics and justice continues in this series.

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

  • 🌻 It was so nice to have a long weekend! I did a small spring cleaning in my wardrobe and donated a couple of pieces that didn’t fit me well anymore.
  • 📖I finished reading two books! Another one of the Vorkosigan Saga: The Borders of Infinity by Lois McMaster Bujold and a non-fiction: The PLAN by Kendra Adachi.
  • 🎧 I am listening to a fiction audio book! It’s something I haven’t done in years, but I saw this book available at my Public Library on Libby, and I decided to try it. It’s “A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking” by T. Kingfisher and I really like the narrator’s voice and style.
  • 🧹I cleaned and put away my sturdy pair of winter boots. Now winter is officially over! 😆
  • 🚗 My partner switched the cars winter tires this weekend. I was there just to give him some moral support, since he likes doing it all by himself.
  • ❎ We voted for the federal election!
  • 🧩 We framed the Zelda’s Breath of the Wild puzzle! It was an excuse to go have lunch at IKEA and get the frame. I forgot to take a picture.
  • ☑️ I did a deep cleaning on my tasks lists and projects in Nirvana. I let go of a bunch of actions that I honestly would never get to finalizing.
  • ✏️I had fun writing this blog post challenge: Blog Questions Challenge: Technology Edition. Thanks, Joel!
  • 📺I’ve been enjoying watching videos about fashion history and Victorian clothing shenanigans. Mainly Bernadette Banner and Abby Cox videos (these are You Tube links, but I actually watch them on Nebula):

  1. A Hilarious & Dramatic History of the Sewing Machine

  2. The Truth About Louis XIV & His Unwashed 🍑

  3. So Victorian Sewing Tech is Really Cool?

  4. Making Victorian Cycling Breeches to be a Menace to Polite Society

  • 🎈 I’m having a bit of a conflict on how I capture ideas for blog posts. For a while I kept a list in Standard Notes but for some reason, I stopped doing that, and then I started to add some of them to Nirvana, but it doesn’t feel right. I also realized that I jot down ideas while journaling, and these were not being capture anywhere else. I dusted off my Standard Notes list, updated it, and I will get back to using it again. There is so much there!

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

I was tagged by Joel to answer the Technology Questions Challenge!

🙌Challenge accepted!

When did you first get interested in technology?

I’ve always been draw to machines that could do things: TV’s, radios, rotary telephones, cassette players (note: I was born in 1979). These devices fascinated me, and I constantly annoyed my parents by asking how they worked. I even managed to destroy the only tube TV in our house while conducting an “experiment”: I partially unplugged it and touched both prongs of the plug with a piece of metal (I think it was a spoon) while the TV was still connected to power. BOOM—fried TV! My parents were not happy, especially since we were growing up during a time of crazy hyperinflation in Brazil, and electronics were not easy to replace.

But I truly fell in love with technology when my dad—who was a mathematician, civil engineer, and university professor—got access to computers at the university. One day, he brought home a small personal computer: the TK-85 (a Brazilian clone of the ZX81). I was hooked immediately. I must have been around 7-8 years old.

The TK-85 ran a BASIC operating system. It had a small keyboard, a joystick, no mouse, a TV output and it could be hooked up to a cassette player to load up programs. It didn’t have internal memory in the way we think of it now—every time we wanted to use a program, we had to load it into the RAM, which could take 30 minutes or more depending on the file size. The cassette player made these weird, alien-like noises while loading.

That’s how I got started with computers. I learned BASIC and DOS, and I still remember the thrill of moving from a text-only interface to using Windows for the first time—with a mouse and multiple windows! 😱 The mouse was mind-blowing to me.

The rest is history. My dad kept upgrading our home computer, and as soon as I could save up enough money, I bought my own PC.

What’s Your Favorite Piece Of Technology All-Time?

This question always makes me think of the fundamental technologies that enabled the modern world: sanitation, steam engines, photography, electricity, the telegraph, the transistor, telephones, and more. Maybe I’m going too far back—but without electricity, we wouldn’t have any of it. So, I’ll say electricity!

If I had to name a favorite object, it would be the personal computer (with a good keyboard!). A close second would be the digital wristwatch.

What’s Your Favorite Piece Of Technology Right Now?

I love e-readers! I think they are such a neat piece of technology! I got my first Kindle in 2012 and used it for nine years before switching to a Kobo Libra H2O in 2021 (a few years after I moved to Canada) which I still use daily. E-readers gave me access to books that weren’t published in Brazil or were too expensive to import. I truly believe they help democratize access to knowledge, which makes it all the more frustrating to see what Amazon is doing with the Kindle ecosystem right now. Still, there are great alternatives out there, and I’m hopeful that independent e-readers will continue to innovate.

Name One New Cool Piece Of Technology We’ll Have In 25 Years!

I can’t predict the future, but I hope we move toward more sustainable production and use of technology. I’d love to see a future where planned obsolescence is a thing of the past and devices are modular, upgradeable, and repairable, so we stop generating the massive amounts of e-waste we see today.

So, it would be cool to have modular technologies. Also, solar or renewable powered devices and wearables. It would be amazing to have fully biodegradable electronics.

I also hope we create digital environments that aren’t driven solely by corporate interests: places where ecosystems can communicate with one another, protect privacy, encourage diversity and equitable access to knowledge (not just feed us junk and ads).

Final thoughts

This was fun! Thanks @Joel for tagging me!

It was nice to go down memory lane and reflect on how technology shaped who I am and how it could shape our future. I feel incredibly grateful to have had access to a computer at such a young age. Back then, computers weren’t ubiquitous in Brazil. It took years for personal computers to become truly popular and affordable. My dad was fortunate to be part of a small group of people who worked with computers early on, and that gave me a rare opportunity.

I’m hopeful that we’ll wake up from the hot mess we’re in today and shift toward a future where technology is more sustainable, open, accessible, and focused on helping humanity rather than exploiting it.

I will nominate:

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Update

Here are the responses:

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

  • 🙌 I'm feeling much better now, no nausea anymore and my energy is slowly getting back. Got some blood work results, and my ferritin levels actually went up, so that's really good news!
  • 💊I started taking probiotics and some supplements to help me restore my gut flora and I've been feeling less bloated with minor acid reflux.
  • 👟 This Sunday we went for our first outdoor run of the year! It was sunny, a nice 16C and we ran 6km with a pace of 6:55min/km (we rested for 1min in the middle). It was nice to get the fresh air, but my low back complained a little afterwards, which is normal after spending the last 6 months only running on the treadmill for 30min max. Spring is here!!
  • 📕 I had fun at my local book club meetup discussing the book “The Raven Tower” by Ann Leckie. I didn't love the book, but it has a few interesting topics to dive into. The second-person narrative felt strange to me, but I can understand why it’s widely praised. For me, though, the story just felt kind of cold. I didn’t connect with the characters or care about what happened to them, probably because the story’s told from an ancient god’s perspective, so we’re just watching the characters instead of really getting into their heads.
  • ✅ It's been usually quiet at work these days and I thought about switching to MS To Do (I almost did!) but I decided not to. There are some downsides I'm not ready to face right now. I'm still using Nirvana. But because I was having such calm days at work, I stopped Time Blocking. I'm going with the flow, just following my calendar and my next actions lists.
  • 🎧 There is this new podcast with two of my favourite’s authors: Emma Newman and Adrian Tchaikovsky. It's called “Starship Alexandria” and I still have to listen to the first episode, but it seems excellent! I saw the news here: Come aboard, the starship's lovely!
  • 🧘‍♀️ My yoga corner has been my little sanctuary lately. It’s where I start my day, unwind, reconnect with myself, and shake off the day’s stress.
  • 🧩We finished the Legend of Zelda's Breath of the Wild puzzle! 🥳

Some Cool reads around the web:

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

  • 🏒 I attended an office team event to go watch a hockey game at the Canadian Tire Center. It was fun but also exhausting because I wasn’t feeling a 100% this past week (see below).
  • 💊 I finished the quadruple therapy for my stomach H. Pylori infection. It was 2 miserable weeks. I felt nauseous all the time, fatigued, bloated, and tired. I had to take anti-nausea medication which made me anxious and jittery. It was not fun, and I was counting the days to finish the treatment. Now I’m taking probiotics to rebuild my gut flora after this onslaught.
  • ☁️ During the treatment above my brain was barely functioning during the day. It was difficult to organize anything, I couldn’t focus, so I tried to be less demanding of myself. I didn’t do my weekly review, and I was feeling bad about it. Today I did an emergency weekly review just to get things back on track, but I still don’t have my full energy back. So, I’ll wait for the weekend to do a throughout review of my system.
  • 🥔 For some reason I developed a craving for Miss Vickie’s original flavor potato chips. And at the same time, I couldn't stand eating dark chocolate anymore, it tasted metallic and weird. I’m still not back to my normal appetite but at least I don’t need the anti-nausea medication anymore.
  • 📻 I listened to the whole album “Nevermind” by Nirvana on the Sunday Vinyl series at the radio station Chez106. It has become a tradition between me and my partner to turn on the radio on Sundays to listen to the Classic Rock Sundays that ends with playing a whole vinyl album each week. I think last week was Queen’s “Sheer Heart Attack” from 1974.
  • ☑️ I had an idea to switch from Nirvana to Microsoft To Do. But that idea came while I was feeling the worst, and I didn’t have the energy to do anything about it. I still think about MS To Do because I work in a Microsoft environment, but every time I tried it didn’t really stick with me. So, I will let this idea go for now and revisit it when I’m feeling better.

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

  1. Deep End by Ali Hazelwood, 457p: I love Ali Hazelwood books, it's the only author I truly enjoy in contemporary romance. This one is about college athletes, a competitive diver (Scarlett Vandermeer) and an Olympic medal swimmer (Lukas Blomqvist). I loved the smart banter between them and how there was a lot of talk and support around mental health issues. Also, it starts with mostly a sexual relationship, and the romance builds after that.  It explores power exchange sexual dynamics, and I thought it was interesting to see the connection between the drive for these power dynamics and subjective experiences. I love how this author takes romance a step further with lots of emotional depth.

  2. Once Upon a Winter's Eve (Spindle Cove #1.5) by Tessa Dare, 120p: This is a novella in the Spindle Cove series and I thought it was okay. It a second chance type romance between with an identity mystery that is quickly revealed (and obvious!) in the book. I didn't like that the male character (Christian) felt so entitled to her (Violet) and initially ignored her feelings.

  3. The Vor Game (Vorkosigan Saga (Publication Order) #6) by Lois McMaster Bujold, 346p: Another one in the Vorkosigan series that is super fun to read. It's a mix of great fast paced writing, absurdly fun plots, and excellent character development. Miles Vorkosigan is such an awesome character, I read this book because of him. He just can't help getting into trouble, even though he tries to stay away from it sometimes. In this one Miles is sent to a cold remote military base where he acts as the weather man, but of course shenanigans happen that gets him back at the center of political/military intrigues and the mercenary fleet he once was part of.  It's great fun full of twists and turns.

  4. What Fresh Hell is This? Perimenopause, Menopause, Other Indignities, and You—a Guide by Heather Corinna, 332p: I enjoyed how the book maintained a light, humorous tone while still being honest and informative.  The chapters covering symptoms, issues, and expected changes were dense, requiring me to take breaks between reading sessions. It did feel a bit repetitive in the middle. But the author does an excellent job of explaining all the terms and concepts and being compassionate and thoughtful.  For anyone navigating perimenopause or menopause, the book can feel overwhelming at times. In summary, I loved the final message of the book which is to practice “extreme self-care”. All good advice in general: have a healthy diet, exercise, meditate, do yoga, journal, or engage in whatever makes you feel good. Simplify your life, reduce responsibilities, and communicate your experiences with those around you. It's not fun, but we will get to the other side. I felt seen and the book helped me let go of preconceptions about this phase of life.

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

This is going to be another post covering multiple weeks. I realized I did write Week Notes on my private journal on the week of March 17 but I never published them here! So, this is going to be a 2-in-1 post!

Week Notes – Mar 07 to Mar 17 2025

  • 🕑 Daylight saving time started here in my corner of the world and I always dread the transition. I felt sluggish and tired the first week, I always do. But my body is adapting to it, so it's okay now.
  • 💻 I replaced my monitor stands for my home office and got an under the desk cable organizer. I wanted to have more free space on my desk and my old setup didn't allow me to push the keyboard out of the way, it was a bit tight because of the legs of 2 stands I was using. Now I have one long stand with no legs in between that get in the way. I can push things under it and have a nice free work area. And I put the power bar and laptop power brick in the organizing tray under the desk. I'm loving the new setup.
  • 💰 We did our taxes! And it wasn’t that difficult this time. We are getting the hang of it now.
  • 🩺 I’ve had a health-related procedure the first week of March and that got me a little bit under the weather while I adjusted to my new medication.

Week Notes – Mar 18 to Mar 29

  • 📚 I got into a reading slump and then got out of it. I finished reading “The Vor Game” yesterday. It’s the kind of fun and predictable read only a beloved series can deliver.
  • 🧑‍⚕️ In another heath related note, I had a follow-up appointment with my doctor to discuss my endoscopy results and it turns out I have that bacteria H. Pylori which are known to cause acid reflux (and more serious things like stomach ulcers). I started a 2-week antibiotic treatment that is making me feel (again) a bit sick (known side effects of the medication). I’m halfway through. It’s pretty intense with pills I have to take with food and without food plus anti-acid medication, so I set up a schedule on my calendar with reminders. And the doctor also wants to investigate if I have any unknown allergies, so I was referred to an allergist next.
  • 🛡️ We had our third Dungeons & Dragons session in our “High Forest” campaign. And we are all Level 02! Now I must choose which style of fighting is going to be my specialty from now on. I haven’t decided yet. Our Dungeon Master finished painting all our character’s miniature figures, they are so cool! We like to stage all our battles in a physical grid, which is cool.
  • 🧩 We started a new puzzle: The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild. It’s coming together, we finished the border and Link is almost complete.
  • 📚 I saw this Humble Bundle with the Dragonlance books that I added to my TBR. I’ve been wanting to continue reading the Dragonlance: Chronicles series for a while now, so this was a good opportunity to get the classic trilogy by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman plus other oldies from this setting.
  • 📖 I read the first chapter of my next local Book Club pick called “The Raven Tower” by Ann Lackie and I’m still processing how to read a book written in second person. I will try it out this weekend, but it’s very bizarre. The last time I’ve read a second person point view book was in the old days of “Choose your adventure” books, which is a completely different thing.
  • 📺 I watched a couple of interesting videos related to online algorithms and how they are affecting us: Algorithms are breaking how we think by Technology Connections and Why we can't stop scrolling by Jared Henderson.

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

📚 Whenever I finish a book, I usually have a good idea of what I want to read next. At the start of each month, I brainstorm and list four to five books that interest me. While this list often shifts as the month progresses, it gives me a good starting point.

But after finishing my ninth book of the year, I hit a slump. I looked at my planned reading list, but nothing grabbed my attention. Even “Words of Radiance” by Brandon Sanderson, which I had been working through, didn’t feel like the right choice. I wanted something shorter, lighter—something easier. Since I had only been reading fiction up to that point, I decided to switch things up with a non-fiction book.

I picked up a book on menopause that had been sitting on my Kobo for a couple of months. Yeah, a book about perimenopause and menopause, which was recommended by my friend at my local Book Club. It’s very informative but the topic itself felt a bit daunting given what it means for my future. Still, it helped me get back into reading, but it didn’t make me super excited to sit down to read (mostly because of the topic—menopause can be a very scary experience for some people according to this book 😬).

So, even though I’ve been reading this book throughout the week, it wasn’t exactly scratching my reading bug. I was still missing that feeling of sneaking in a chapter whenever I had a free moment.

Another common tip for breaking a reading slump is switching genres. Lately, I’ve been reading a lot of romance, but I had started and abandoned four different romance novels in a single week. Nothing was clicking. So, instead of experimenting with something entirely new, I turned to a series I already loved: The Vorkosigan Saga. I picked up “The Vor Game” by Lois McMaster Bujold, and just like that—I was back in my reading groove! It brought back that fun I had when reading previously.

Here’s what worked for me this time:

  • Sampling different books – Reading a few pages from multiple books helped me quickly determine what sparked my interest. If a book didn’t grab me right away, I moved on.
  • Switching genres – Shifting from romance to sci-fi refreshed my reading experience.
  • Revisiting a favorite author – Picking up a book from an author I already enjoy meant I didn’t have to worry about adjusting to a new writing style.
  • Continuing a beloved series – Familiarity with the world and characters made it easy to dive right in and build momentum.
  • Choosing a shorter book – “The Vor Game” is 364 pages—much shorter than the 1,087 pages of “Words of Radiance.” It helps to get that sense of accomplishment when I can zip through a shorter book.

This experience made me think that this year I want to focus more on continuing series I love instead of trying new things.

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.