Toes!

I recently read a piece about the myth of motivation that argued that to excel at something or achieve something challenging, you have to fall in love with the process of the practice. It's significantly more applicable to my trapeze hobby, of course, but I would argue that the applicable piece to the list project is just falling in love with reading books and not getting hung up on having 440 or so more to go.

Maybe the secret is interim goals. I think the practice/process for me becomes hardest when I feel lost or without direction. That's true for everything. So, I recently set an interim goal of finishing out the 18th Century. Seemed achievable (thanks, Project Gutenberg!), and since I long ago finished the 17th/pre-17th Century section, it seemed like a good idea to finally wrap up the 18th. I'm only one book away! So, has it been helpful and rewarding?

Um, no. Not really. It's been sort of traumatizing due to the Marquis de Sade, and very maddening due to almost everyone else. Le sigh.

Missed sibling day, but: