"Strong reading habits enhance skills required in the 21st-century workplace, such as high literacy and analytical thinking. An increasingly competitive economy demands a highly literate workforce," according to The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices. But what does it take to establish and maintain a productive reading schedule?
Los Angeles based Colleen Wainwright -- aka "the communicatrix" -- set a goal to read 52 books in 2010 and just announced via YouTube that she reached that goal the week of August 16. We asked Wainwright about her reading venture and to share her tips on reading productively:
Examiner.com: Why 52 books in 2010?
The communicatrix: I had no idea how much I was reading; I just knew it wasn't enough for my liking and wanted to increase it. I came across a post on Julien Smith's blog that explained how he accomplished a similar goal. He attributed his success to breaking down "52 weeks" into roughly 40 pages per day. So I went with that.
Examiner.com: What types of books are you reading?
The communicatrix: I read rather haphazardly, based on a combination of current obsessions, mentions of random titles which pique my interest and what's handy. I lean toward non-fiction and, these days, heavily towards memoir. I also read quite a bit on marketing/communication and self-improvement. Lately, though, I've been folding more and more fiction into the mix, as well as a bit of poetry. I prefer reading that sort of stuff in the evening and the rest of it in the morning.
Examiner.com: How do you get the most out of your reading?
The communicatrix: It depends on what I'm reading and why I'm reading it. If I find myself reading something I think I might want to review, I'll make notes in my trusty spiral notebook, which, in tandem with my calendar, then serves as a chronological log of what I've been doing, reading and thinking about.
If I'm reading a digital book on my laptop, I'll use the program to take notes, if I can. If I'm reading on my iPhone, I'll make hard-copy notes in the notebook.
Reading with an eye toward reviewing absolutely changes how you take in a book and can also increase how much you get from one. I've been toying with the idea of creating some kind of review for every book I read, but they're very labor-intensive and not my major area of interest, so I only review those books on my blog which I think my audience will find exceptionally enjoyable and/or useful.
Self described "writer-speaker-layabout," Wainwright started calling herself “the communicatrix” when she "hit three hyphens." She spent ten years as an award-winning TV copywriter and another ten acting in commercials. She now spends most of her time "teaching other creative souls how to talk about what they do in a way that wins them attention, work and satisfaction" and the rest of it "horsing around on the Internet."
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