Bookmarked Treats

Let's say you start reading a book. It could be any type of book: fiction, non-fiction or even the dictionary. It doesn't matter. And let's say you reach that point in the book (usually somewhere in the Fs, around the word fructose) where you realize you don't like it much, but have read too many pages, invested too much of your life, to put the book down. You refuse to let bad writing defeat you. How do you motivate yourself to finish when the author has seemingly strived to suck the joy out of reading?

I recommend using bookmark treats. They don't have to be real bookmarks and probably shouldn't be real treats. Placing a Hot & Spicy Cheez-It a hundred pages ahead may seem like a tasty idea, but it isn't, unless you plan on reading all one hundred pages of that hardcover in one sitting.

The concept is simple. Rewards are written on scraps of paper or Post-it Notes, which are then inserted into the troublesome tome. The goal is to reach the given bookmark treat to collect the reward. The incentive doesn't have to be extravagant. It could be as simple as treating yourself to hot chocolate, finally seeing that movie you've been secretly wanting to see or giving yourself permission to take a guilt-free nap (at a non-cubicle location).

Bookmark placement is crucial. You don't want to set your treat too far away, making it seem unobtainable. At the same time, you don't want it so close that it's practically useless. The key is to place it deep enough so by the time you reach it, you've covered considerable ground and have been hopefully drawn back into the book enough to finish the rest on your own. For the typical novel, one or two bookmarks are sufficient.

To better illustrate what I'm talking about, here's an example. I'm currently reading Elmore Leonard's Mr. Paradise. I'm about eighty-seven pages in and finding Elmore's latest effort less than enjoyable, but I want to complete it so I can criticize it with credibility. To help me get through the remaining two hundred pages, I've inserted a bookmark for a cup of coffee from Caffee Kaffee Vin. The promise of drinking slow roasted Tres Americas (a combination of three French roasts: dark, full body and smooth) will be incentive enough to mow through the next hundred pages or so.

For exceptionally long novels, you might find it necessary to up the ante with what I call progressive bookmark treats. If you're finding it difficult sailing through, say, Victor Hugo's Les Miserables, you might plan out your progressive bookmarks thusly...

• Page 250: One chocolate croissant
• Page 500: One visit to a French bakery for a chocolate eclair and coffee
• Page 750: One dinner at a French restaurant like Left Bank
• Page 1000: One viewing of Les Mis in the city of your choice
• Page 1250: One weekend at the Paris Las Vegas
• Finish the book: One week vacationing in the real deal - Paris, France

If that isn't enough and you're still unwillingly to close the book once and for all, then challenge a friend to a read off. The last one to reach the strategically placed incentives must treat the other to the bookmarked treats. There's nothing like a little competition to get the pages flipping.

Reading, of course, really should be a reward in itself, requiring nothing more for our imaginations to want to delve into the worlds writers create for us. Unfortunately, not every book is a page-turner and in those rare cases, bookmarked treats can come in handy. So, give them a try, you might like them, plus they're calorie-free.

Now, I'm off to get a few pages closer to that slow roasted coffee. I can smell it already.