Continuing the Empty Shelf Challenge

by Bethany Jett @BetJett

New York Times Bestselling author Jon Acuff threw the reading gauntlet in 2013.

“Empty a shelf in your house somewhere. Every book you read from now until December 31, 2014 goes on the shelf. Waiting until January 1st to do something awesome is stupid and fake.”

The number of books on my to-read list is longer than my children’s Santa wish list, but sometimes the stress of life means books go untouched for far too long.

“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write.” – Stephen King

The Empty Shelf Challenge gave me some weird sense of permission to read again. I’ve found that not only does my writing improve when I’m constantly reading, but it gives my mind a break from creating and lets me escape into beautiful worlds created by other talented writers.

Instead of emptying a shelf, I created a Pinterest board and started using my Goodreads account. I found that when the number of times I stared at the computer uninspired diminished. The words flew and my vocabulary increased. An appreciation for great writing intensified and I allowed myself to stop reading books that were poorly written without feeling guilty for not completing something I’d started.

“A writer’s brain is like a magician’s hat. If you’re going to get anything out of it, you have to put something in it first.” ― Louis L'Amour

As a nonfiction writer, I found that reading great novels allowed me to draw creativity into my own works. In fact, one of my secret weapons while I was writing The Cinderella Rule was to pick up a copy of a bestseller and read until my heart and mind were so full that I couldn’t keep my fingers off the keyboard.

There are several places to find great books, but my newest favorite place is BookBub.com. When you create an account, you choose the categories and genres that appeal to you. They send you an email with that day’s free or heavily discounted books. Most are by bestsellers and have large 5-star ratings on Amazon.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday I stayed up until 2 AM reading one of Jeffery Archer’s books that was a free deal from BookBub. I found a new favorite author and Archer gained a new fan.

Today, I throw the gauntlet.

Join me as we read more books this year than ever before. We start now, because waiting to do something awesome is stupid.

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Bethany Jett’s life changed when she left her first writers conference with an agent and a book deal. Not only was The Cinderella Rule a Selah Awards finalist, it opened doors to national speaking engagements, international radio interviews, multiple publishing opportunities, and teaching at writers conferences.

Along with ghostwriting for her literary agency, Bethany founded Serious Writer Academy and created the My Moments quarterly planner and the Serious Writer’s Companion: the All-in-One Organizer for writers.

Connect with Bethany on Facebook, Twitter, Periscope, SeriousWriter.com and at BethanyJett.com. Click here to register for her upcoming free webinar “7 Secrets to Landing a Book Deal.”