My Reading Buckets

 by Sybil Johnson

Whenever I finish reading the first book in a series, I mentally place the series into a bucket. I never actually write this down anywhere. I just keep track of it in my mind. These buckets are:

1. Loved it so much I’m going to (a) immediately read the next book if it’s available, (b) talk about the series to anyone who will listen, (c) pre-order the next book. 
   
2. Liked the book enough to want to read the next book in the series at some point, just not immediately. I won’t pre-order a book, but I’ll keep track of when the next book comes out. 
3. Found it interesting, but didn’t really care about the characters or the setting. Might read the next book. Might not. 
4. Didn’t really like it, but finished it. Not worth reading any more books in the series.
5.  Didn’t like it. Didn’t finish it. Won’t even consider reading another book in the series.

I don’t reread books very often, but when I do they’ll come from the first two buckets I described above. Series can move from bucket to bucket as time goes on. After a dozen books in a series, I might get tired of it or it might move down the list for something newer.

Does anyone else do something like this? Or is this just me being odd? I guess it’s my way of bringing order to my world. 

As a writer, I aspire to being in that top bucket or at least the top two. I can’t control this, though, so I’ll just keep on writing stories that I would enjoy reading. Hopefully, I’ll make it into a reader’s top buckets.