becoming a close(r) reader

a new series for close readers who want to dig into their process

Hi friend,

This holiday season, and during what feels (for many of us, I think) a turbulent season of life, I am offering a closely reading series designed to help you:

• explore and define your personal analytical style (as in: how you think about what you read and how to discuss it with other readers)

• develop and define your reading aesthetic (as in: how you experience close reading as an embodied being and how to set yourself up for reading success)

• brainstorm new ideas for your reading habits and goals (as in: how consciously you engage with your reading process and how to do it more often)

• write about your closely reading methods (as in: how you reflect on your ideas while reading and finding the confidence to share your writing)

Every Monday through early January, you’ll find prompts, literary definitions, recommended readings, inspiration, and other fun goodies aligned to the topics above to help you get inspired and find your personal closely reading style — or, at the very least, start to define for yourself what you want to focus on more in your reading endeavors. We’ll end the series with you having everything you need to create a focused 2025 reading plan (however detailed you’d like it to be), complete with a shortlist of reading and annotation goals you feel confident about being able to reach.

Think of this guide as a personal demystification process to help you uncover some of your hitherto unrealized hopes and dreams for your reading life, so you can make them a reality.

You will learn how to:

• Examine the various elements of your current reading habits

• Recognize and define common literary approaches to analysis and identify a few favorite areas you want to explore more deeply

• Develop your reading and annotating practices with new skills

• Create focused, achievable reading & analytical goals for 2025

• Get fully equipped for all the *amazing* read-a-longs I have planned for next year (including Pride & Prejudice, starting in mid-January!)

• And so much more

It’s like homework, but in a fun way.

A note on access

I work hard to create custom, meaningful, and actionable reading guidance that can truly help you reshape your habits or reframe how you engage with literature. Earlier this year, I started planning this series as a paid-only offering. But I have felt, even more than ever over the last few weeks, that anyone who’d like to deepen their analytical and close reading skills deserves access to the information. All the forthcoming guidance will be free to all readers.

If you’re able to upgrade to a paid subscription, I would really appreciate your support for the time, energy, and thinking I put into each installment of this series.

If you’re not ready or able to become a paid subscriber, but do want to show a little extra enthusiasm or support for this series, you can make a one-time contribution and buy me a coffee!

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Will you be tuning in each Monday? Let me know of topics or ideas you’d like to see covered in the upcoming series.

‘Til next time, happy reading