The last few years, I've done two 6-month challenges. In 2015 I did make a yearly goal of 50 books so that I could participate in the Goodreads challenge, but kept all my subchallenges (page counts and particular books and reading themes) as 6-month. I like the shorter time frame so that as the year progresses I don't get too bogged down for too long if things aren't going well. Also, I enjoy coming up with the fresh subchallenges more often regardless.
I haven't thought too much about next year yet as I still have this year's challenge to work on, which at this point will be all but impossible to finish considering what's left to read and time constraints, but which (as hope springs eternal) I will continue to toil at with the time left. That said, some ideas are swirling around for 2016. I'll stick with a Goodreads challenge, probably somewhere between 50-60 for the year. It was 40 for 2014 and 50 for 2015 so I'd like to try 60 for 2016, but I'm not even sure if I'll make the 50 for this year. I am reading some really big books for 2015, but still. I'll need to see how things are looking closer to New Year's before deciding.
I may drop having a page number goal outright. I prefer page numbers to books read because of book size variance, but since I am now doing the GR challenge it seems a bit redundant. I haven't decided if I'll keep track of page numbers anyway if I do drop the goal. I may make page count a variable weekly goal that depends on time available, and as such perhaps unnecessary to include here. One wrinkle would be audiobooks. It's easy to estimate page count for an entire audiobook but something else entirely to estimate daily or weekly page counts for an audiobook. I would have to estimate the page count beforehand and divide it into a book's total minutes to find minutes per page, then keep track of where I start and finish each day or week and calculate, which could be cumbersome. So it's still up in the air.
As for thematic or specific book subchallenges, I haven't even begun to ponder except that I'm thinking of possibly going even shorter in 2016 - to four 3-month challenges. It could help to ensure (even more adequately than 6-month goals), as my time constraints vary throughout the year on a somewhat unpredictable basis, that I choose proper subchallenges for the time frame, and I like the idea that it will give me an opportunity to refresh things basically every season. All will be decided a little later though. Good luck in 2016 everyone!
