What I Love About My #Reading #Journal ~ @AuthorKristina Knight

For the past couple of years, I've been on a bit of an organization kick. I've blogged - probably too many times - about my love for my Happy Planner, and talked about goal setting, and shared my motivation/goal-inspired Words of the Year.

For the past two years I've added to those things a reader's journal. Initially, I used the journal because I was part of two different reading challenges (because when I decide to do something I usually go 'two' far). The first was a 50 books in 50 weeks challenge and the other a read/watch challenge in which I read a book and watched a movie/documentary/tv show all with the same theme -- themes like 'New Beginnings' and 'Retro' and 'Unusual'. 

I didn't do too badly on the reading challenges but quickly into it I realized I needed a way to keep track of what I'd read and what I still wanted to read and, since I "test" new authors by trying their books at the library first, a place to decide which books I wanted to add to my personal collection. Also, I wanted to think about what I was reading - what I liked/didn't like, how what I'm reading is changing my thoughts about...oh, everything and anything. That's when I found the Well Read Woman reading journal.

I found this little goodie at our local BooksAMillion, thumbed through it a little and realized this is exactly what I was looking for - a reader's journal with just enough direction. There is a place for the title and author (naturally) along with follow-up
books (assuming it's a series book) or just more books by that author that seem interesting. But, the journal also prompts for favorite quotes from the books, plot things I liked/didn't, and character things I liked/didn't.

But what I like best about this journal is the pictures. Samantha Hahn is the journal 'author' and along with the journaling part, she included her watercolors of famous literary women - Wendy from the Peter Pan books, Emma Bovary, Hester Prynne, Ophelia, and even little Mary Lennox from "The Secret Garden". There is also a quote from each book (y'all know how I love a favorite quote)...which led me to another reading challenge: re-reading books I loved as a child.

Do you like keeping track of favorite books/authors? How do you keep track of books that you've read?

Kristina Knight is a contemporary romance author, part-time swim-kid wrangler, and full-time Thin Mints enthusiast. You can find out more the book and Kristina on her website, and feel free to stalk follow her on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. 

Kristina Knight’s newest release, Perfect on Paper, is out now. Daisy MacIntosh needs a man, and any man will do. After being jilted by her ex - who is also her boss - she needs a date to the company retreat in Mexico. The only problem? Daisy doesn't have time to find a guy, and her ex is hinting that he'd like this work trip to become a reunion romance. Stepping in to become Daisy's pretend boyfriend isn't the best idea Nick Vega has had, but it's the only one he's got. But are they willing to risk their life-long friendship for a romance that might fizzle once they're back home?

Power of Story

by Joanne Rock

With apologies to the wonders of modern transportation, I can’t help but think there is no faster way to take a long journey than four simple words—once upon a time.

There is magic in those words.  If you don’t believe it, try watching the opening to Disney’s Beauty and the Beast sometime, where a wonderful narrator’s voice sucks you in with a long ago legend told over the still pictures of a story book.  Whether or not our books begin with the classic words that begin a fairy tale, our brains still hear them as we sit down to open a book.  And by “we” I’m referring to romance readers, readers who believe in the transporting power of story and are eager to undertake that journey again and again through the pages of a book.  The magic of “once upon a time” is engrained, a mental portal we go through whenever we open a new book and that excitement for a story begins all over again.

Of course, maybe I’m a very susceptible reader.  I willingly suspend disbelief at the drop of a hat, always ready to take a new journey and see where a story leads.  Perhaps not all readers are as eager to see the world through pages as I am.

But even the most cynical of readers will undertake that magical story journey every now and then.  No matter that they fight the pull of “once upon a time,” sooner or later something will draw them in and lead them deep into a story.  For my oldest son recently, it was DaVinci Code.  For my youngest, it was Harry Potter.  You’ve got to hand it to J.K. Rowling.  Nothing captures a six-year-old’s attention like a giant driving out of the sky on a motorcycle.

 

Thanks to the power of story, I’ve been all around the world and through time to save the world, save the family farm, save numerous rocky marriages.  I’ve battled plagues, bad guys and vampires.  And of course, I’ve fallen for a few bad guys and vampires.  And sometimes literally, sometimes figuratively, it all started once upon a time.

**Do you remember the last book that almost gave you goosebumps as you read the opening pages? Or the last book you highly anticipated? Share with me today for a chance to win a download of LAST CHANCE CHRISTMAS! Don't miss my next book in the Road to Romance series, A CHANCE THIS CHRISTMAS, releasing October 5th.