I have been inspired by this year's Hugos.
It's become clear to me, as perhaps it has to many others, that entrusting my opinions of the latest genre works to others to nominate for awards is not enough any more.
One might ask: why haven't I done the active, thorough job I wanted on nominating? Easy: life. The biggest factor in my failure is my faulty, distracted, non-eidetic memory.
Therefore, I'm starting a reading journal.
Essentially, I am a very busy person (as many are), and I can't always call to mind every story I've read in a year, even the good ones. From now on, every time I read a story in the field, or a brilliant article, etc. I'll be writing down title, author, and publication.
That way I can get to the end of the year and remember not just the one or two stories that totally blew me away, but the other ones I loved but read on a day when I had 20 errands and a home play date. Or the ones I loved on a day when I was sick, or when I was in the middle of a crazy vacation.
I'm really excited about this, actually. I love to support stories I have enjoyed. The whole field is better off when we read each other's work, talk about it, and support it.
I hope everyone with a Hugo membership this year will consider doing the same going forward. We need everyone involved.
#SFWApro
This is brilliant! I'm going to do likewise on my Tanglblog.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'll be curious to see what you are reading.
DeleteThe best possible outcome from all that's happened would be more people reading, recommending, and nominating. I'm definitely doing a better job of keeping track of what I read so I can easily recall it during nomination time.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. I sure hope all the people who voted for the awards this year can sustain their commitment into next.
DeleteClever idea. I review the books (though I'm often behind the curve date wise) but the short stories come and go. I'll try to track them as well.
ReplyDeleteA good idea.
ReplyDeleteIt's frustrating to me that I don't read as many books and stories per year as I once did, thanks to the distraction of the internet as well as trying to spend more time writing. And since I write (or try to write) secondary world/epic style fantasy, a lot of my reading is in that genre. Since it's not really one that's considered appropriate for hugos, I feel like a complete imposter trying to come up with titles to nominate.
E.L., I don't know why you'd think epic fantasy isn't appropriate for the Hugos. The Goblin Emperor was nominated this year, and I believe that's epic fantasy. Go ahead and nominate!
DeleteI've been tracking my reading for quite a while on Librarything - the hard part for me is figuring out which ones are new enough to qualify for the Hugos (I read a mix of old and new all the time). But if one blows me away I can research its status and tag it if it's Hugo-nominatable - much easier than trying to figure it all out at nominating time next year. Great idea!
ReplyDeleteWagner - why aren't those appropriate for the Hugos? Serious question - that's a lot of my reading too.
I think epic fantasy is totally appropriate.
DeleteAwesome! Will you be posting them here?
ReplyDeleteI'm doing the same thing over on my blog, and also keeping a running list of things people have recommended to me, so I can get through as many new things as possible before nominations close next year!
I'm not sure whether to post them here because what I'm planning to write won't amount to much of a review. At the moment the journal is in paper form.
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