Top Ten Tuesday is a feature run by the lovely crew at The Broke and The Bookish
Top Ten Goals for 2015
This year I have actually spent quite a bit of time thinking about goals I have for reading and blogging in 2015! I’ve been doing this for a number of years now and I feel I’ve developed some bad habits! Time to get my reading and blogging in gear! Here are a few goals I’ve been thinking on:
1. Organization: Seriously, why am I not more organized! It would make my life SO much easier. I’ve already implemented a few ideas that I hope to continue with throughout the year. First, when I moved into my new house I set up my office with blogging in mind. I have a library cart that I organize physical copies of books on. I also have a small shelf right by my desk that I reserve for the books I need and want to read for the upcoming month. I’ve finally created collections on my kindle to organize e-galleys by release month. To keep track of both e-galleys and physical ARCs I use Wunderlist. I create a list for each month and add the books I need to read, as well as subtasks for when they’re read, reviews are written, and reviews are submitted to the publisher. Finally, I hope to use a physical desk calendar more faithfully to help me keep track of scheduling posts.
2. Tracking Reading: This year I’ve done an okay job of tracking the YA books I’ve read on my Yearly YA Reading Record page. I slacked off over summer so I’m sure I’m missing some so I hope to do better next year. Also, I read a lot of non-YA historical romance novels. I’m terrible about keeping track of those. I hope to be more faithful with adding everything I read to goodreads. I also have this darling “what i read” journal that might help. I’m not sure what the best way for me to do this is. I plan to figure this out in 2015.
3. Non-Fiction: When ordering books for my library there are always a lot of non-fiction books that appeal to me yet I barely read any. I only read a handful of non-fiction books in 2014. I’m challenging myself to read at least twelve in 2015 (hopefully one a month.)
4. Finish Series: I made a spreadsheet of series I’ve started and liked but never finished. It’s embarrassing. Also, daunting. One of my main goal for 2015 is to finish at least one series a month (depending on how many books I have left to read in that particular series!) When I scan my shelves I can see too many upside-down books! These are books I own but haven’t read. This push to finish series books will help!
5. Tackle Unread Books on my shelf: Speaking of those upside-down unread books… there are too many that aren’t in a series or are first in a series as well! I really need to get too those, too! Again, I hope to read at least one of these a month.
6. Edelweiss/NetGalley: While I’m at it, I may as well read ALL THE BOOKS! I got really carried away with requesting ebooks when I first got
auto-approved for a bunch and bit off more than I could chew! I know I’m passed the release dates but I want to read and review as many as I can. Again, at least one a month would be good.
7. Checklist: Basically, I should create a monthly checklist with books coming out I need to read for review, at least one series to finish, a non-fiction book, a past review book, and an unread book from my shelf! I even did that thing where you write titles on slips of paper and put them in a jar to help decide which to read! Not saying I’d get to all of them but having a list helps me plan my reading time. Of course I’ll still leave room for whatever grabs my fancy.
8. Sarah Dessen Re-read: Mitali had the great idea of re-reading all Sarah Dessen’s books in anticipation of Saint Anything in May. We both wanted to read the books in order and try to track all the connections we see. It means we have to read about three books a month so it might get a bit crazy. However, I have Spring break in there if I get too far behind!
9. WordPress: I switched to WordPress this year and I still have basically no idea what I’m doing! I should really try to figure out how to do more cool things!
10. Food in Books: Every year Liza hosts a luncheon based on novels we’ve read throughout the year. I help come up with the menu and prepare the food. Every year we say we’ll keep track of food all year. Every year we scramble in December to remember if there was food in the books we read! Not in 2015!! Jaime was super smart and created a google form we can submit whenever we come across something that sounds yummy! I will do this!!!
What about you? What are your goals for 2015? Any ideas to help me with mine?
Quinn @ Quinn's Book Nook
These are great goals, Heidi, and I’ve made similar ones to myself this past year. I spent a lot of time this year trying to figure out how I wanted to organize all the blogging stuff I want to do. I finally decided on a physical calendar and that has worked so well for me. It’s made my life so much less stressful.
I also really, really need to read the books I own. I have so many that I haven’t read, it’s crazy.
Ange/Libby Blog
I didn’t think that putting together a list like this was really something I should do this year because I rarely follow through and then it’s just one more thing I haven’t done *guilt* BUT #3 & 4 are perfect goals! Those are ones I should be doing too, and have been trying to be better about on my own already. Great list my dear. 🙂 Good luck.