Last year, I was not in a position to set any goals… my life was in shambles, I was grieving, and I was fighting this overwhelming feeling that goals and plans are pointless because the world can just kick you in the face at any moment.
This year, things are different. I am still working on my relationship with grief, but my personal and professional lives are in what appears to be a more stable place. As the end of the year approached, I actually felt excited about the idea of setting goals and trying to achieve them… and that felt really good too.
Without further ado, here are some of the reading and blogging goals I’ve set for 2018.
Read 84 books (average of 7 per month)
For many years, my reading pace was around 100 books per year. I have no idea if that number is sustainable anymore, but I’d like to keep trying. My 2018 goal, 84 books, is a stretch based on what I read in 2017 (78 books), but not impossible.
Listen to 12 audiobooks
I don’t have a long commute, but 25 minutes in either direction each day adds up. I’d love to get through one audiobook every month in 2018.
Pay attention to diversity and gender in my reading.
In 2017, 33 percent of the books I read were written by people of color, and 70 percent were written by women. That’s where I want to be, so I want to keep it up in 2018.
Complete Book Riot’s 2018 Read Harder Challenge
I’ve tried this challenge a few times, with more and less success. I’m hoping 2018 is the year I”ll actually finish it!
Publish 52 blog posts
One area of my life I felt like I struggled with in 2017 was my writing. I did some good work – publishing a nonfiction newsletter for Book Riot (sign up here!) and completing my 100 Days of Books Instagram project this spring – but this space really felt neglected.
Now that I’m feeling more settled at work and at home, I’m hoping 2018 is the year I can figure out what kind of routine I need to make blogging a regular part of my life again. In 2018, this blog will turn 10 years old. I honestly don’t know what the future holds, but I don’t want to make decisions about what happens to this space without giving it some regular attention. The goal is to publish one post every week to see what that shows me.
Only buy books from bookstores
Now that I’m living back in a major metropolitan area (and not in a rural, prairie town), I have no excuse for how often I buy books online. Online shopping means that I buy way more than I have time to read, and pre-order books on a whim that I’m less interested in when they finally arrive. In an effort to be more present and read based on my mood and immediate interests, I’m going to try only buying books from bookstores and see what happens.
None of those are huge, but they’re written down and actionable and I feel good about that. In a couple of weeks I hope to share about my other big decision for the year, my 2017 One Little Word, which I think I have chosen but need to flesh out a little bit more. Last year was a hard one for a lot of people for a lot of reasons, but I really feel like 2018 is going to better.
What goals and resolutions and words are on your mind for your bookish life in 2018?
Comments on this entry are closed.
I never buy books online because I have great local indies. Good luck with your goals!
While I lived in rural Minnesota, I didn’t have access to any bookstores, so buying online was just the most convenient way to get the books I wanted. Now that I’m in the city, it’s feasible to shop at a couple reasonably close indies or at Barnes and Noble.
So glad things are settling into a more stable place and best of luck in 2018!
Good luck with your goals!
Love the pic of all the pens!
Thanks! A new year also means some new office supplies 🙂
Cute pic! You’ve got some great goals to keep you busy this year!
I think those are worthy and attainable goals. My foodie blog (Squirrel Head Manor ) turned 10 years old last month. I debated whether I wanted to continue since my book blog (Novel Meals) gets more attention. I write more there and I like Wordpress. What worked for me for SHM was going back to my old school journal type posts. Maybe that’s something you’d like as well.
I’m rural, so it’s still online shopping for me!
I think that’s definitely on the horizon! I liked doing Currently posts, which are just sort of a mash up of little things I’m into at the moment. Keeping those in the rotation will help on weeks when I don’t have other ideas.
I like your goal of only buying books from bookstores. I’m 40 minutes away from my closest bookstore, so I do order a fair amount online. Yet only buying from bookstores would certainly keep my unread piles down. What a good idea!
When I lived in rural Minnesota, the nearest store was about 40 minutes away too. It’s just a bit to far to be reasonable for a lot of book buying. I hope that keeping purchases to physical stores will cut back on the number of books that come into the house, but we’ll see!
I think those goals sound perfect. Good luck with them. I’ll be watching for whatever you’d like to share with us. As to buying from bookstores vs. buying online – well, my eyesight really needs the e-book option of making the font bigger. I know there are large print books, but many are so ‘big’ and unwieldy. Anyway, I’ve decided that for the most part, e-books are my friend. Plus, audio books are a great thing for me. I actually listen to as many books as I read in print these days. I do hear you about impulsively clicking to buy a book and I’m planning on trying to curb that a bit.
It’s definitely not a goal for everyone — there are lots of good reasons to buy online or stick to e-books or whatever. I have no quibbles with a plan to stick with the format of book that works for you 🙂
These all sound thoughtful and wise. You’ve given them a lot of thought and you’ve accomplished such things in the past, so it doesn’t seem like you’ll need good luck, but I’ll send some your way anyhow!
I especially appreciate your comment that you are where you want to be with some of your categories within your reading choices; I am in the same position but I do still feel like they need to remain “goals” because it does take work to sustain them – it’s too easy to fall into other habits that were less appealing and took so much time to reset!
You’re totally right. At the end of 2016 I stopped really tracking what I was reading — I was just grateful to be reading at all! — and it ended up shifting back to being pretty white. It takes work to do that, even once you hit the goal the first time!
One blog post a week: that’s about what I aim for too, usually on Sundays for The Sunday Salon. I’d like to add in more, but one seems to be what I can do.
I want to be doing more, but I figured start with one and see where it goes. I have a problem of biting off more than I can chew, so I tried to keep goals reasonable this year 🙂