Top Ten Tuesdays #22: Resolutions

Posted December 30, 2014 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 24 Comments

top10tuesdayTop Ten Bookish and Blogging Resolutions

Top Ten Tuesdays are hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, where we make LISTS of our top ten books based on that week’s prompt… and then we stalk other people’s answers to add a million books to our TBR. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here.

I was planning on including a post like this within the next day or two about my goals for 2015, so this is perfect! As everyone knows, I started blogging in July of 2014, so this coming year will be my first full year of blogging. I’ve signed up for a number of challenges, since it’s the first time I can participate in the year-long stuff, and plan on doing a lot of stuff in the coming year. Thanks everyone for your support in getting me started!

blogging goals

  1. Write more original discussion posts: These seem to get a lot of traffic on the blog and I love reading other people’s opinions. I need to start drafting a post the minute an idea pops into my head, because otherwise I forget all of my ideas when the time comes.
  2. Write more top 10 lists and recommendation lists: These are supposed to be a main feature on my blog but I rarely post them. The problem is that I didn’t really have a lot of books to base these lists on. I would find myself repeating the same ones over and over again. With the hefty reading goals I have for 2014, I think it’ll be a little easier to choose a variety of books in these lists.
  3. Find a reading/blogging organizational method that works and doesn’t pressure me: I developed a system that uses my Google calendar to plan posts. I was really enjoying that method but decided to make it even crazier and make an Excel spreadsheet that showed what to read and when, when the review should be posted, and all of my past reviews and ratings from each month. This added WAY too much pressure in December and it made me not want to read. I’ve decided to eliminate most of that. I want to read what I want whenever I want, so keeping to a reading schedule like that really just doesn’t work for me.
  4. Participate in memes and monthly wrap-ups whenever I want: I have a tendency of overdoing it when it comes to memes, link-ups, and other things like that. If I don’t want to participate in something for the week, I won’t.
  5. Interact more with other bloggers: I am normally VERY good about replying to comments on my own blog, but I’m not as good at commenting on other blogs. I also always have issues with Google-based blogs, because the comment system doesn’t ever work for me. Go figure that most bloggers that comment on MY blog use Google and I can never successfully comment back! Regardless, I want to be better about commenting on other people’s blogs, instead of just commenting back on my blog.

reading goals

  1. Complete my Goodreads Challenge (again), except this time with many more books: You all know the story by now. I set my Goodreads challenge at 20 books last year before I even considered starting a blog. Clearly I blew that out of the water with the 92 books I ended up reading, nearly all of them between July and now. I’ve been hemming and hawing about my goal for next year because I don’t want it to be too easy or too hard. That being said, I usually can read about 2 books per week and 1 audiobook per week, which would put me at 156 books. I think I’ll be setting the bar at 175!
  2. DNF more books: I know this may sound awful, but this is something I really struggle with. I hate not finishing books… especially if I spent money on it! There are too many books out there to waste my time on crappy ones and I really need to start, um, stopping them. Life’s too short!
  3. Only request review books that I’ve been desperate for: I have a tendency of browsing review book websites, reading the synopsis, and picking the books based on that. I need to limit myself to only requesting or trying to read review books that I found elsewhere and am dying to read. Even if a book sounds appealing while browsing, I’m never in the mood to read it when the time comes. I started this blog for me to keep track of books I read and connect with other readers; having ARCs doesn’t need to be a priority.
  4. Utilize the library like nobody’s business: I spend a lot of money on books that just sit on my shelves. I go out and buy a book on its release date because I’m so eager to own it… and then it remains there for months or years just collecting dust. I’ve determined that I really need to use the library for as many books as humanly possible. If I love the book and want a copy for my collection, I can always buy it later. Now that I’m okay with rereading books, I don’t have any issue with buying a book I’ve already read.
  5. Expand my horizons and follow my mood reading tendencies: By a long shot, I read mostly contemporary books this year. I’ve always loved fantasy books and I really want to get back into them for 2015. There are SO many fantasy series on my radar that I want to just crank through this coming year. Beyond fantasy, I want to be more open to books of all types. I get genre burnout a lot, so I hope that reading a variety of kinds of books whenever I’m in the mood for them will remedy that issue. If I read too many contemporaries in a row, I want to puke at the next sight of romance in a book. I need to follow my moods and read what I want!

24 responses to “Top Ten Tuesdays #22: Resolutions

  1. Your book goal for the year is ambitious! (I really need to start with audio books- I could get so much more reading done!) I can’t believe your blog only started in July and I’ve loved seeing it grow and getting to know you as a blogger! I can’t wait to see how these goals turn out for you in 2015 and I always look forward to seeing your posts!

    Cristina @ Girl in the Pages recently posted: Top Ten Goals/Resolutions for 2015- Bookish, Blogging, and Otherwise!
    • AHH I know I’m getting nervous. I figure if I read 92 books between July and December, I should be able to handle around 200. I just don’t want to pressure myself too much. I may set it at 175 and bump it up if I feel like I can pull off 200. Audiobooks are great! Definitely give them a try.
      Thanks for the sweet comment – I feel the same way about your blog! It’s been nice getting to know you and reading your posts. Here’s to another year of Book Buddies!!

  2. I totally agree about only asking for books you’re DESPERATE for! I realized that I’m not the greatest at reading ARCs on time and end up reading them wayyy past the published date, eep. I love my library so yay libraries for free books!

    elena recently posted: best books of 2014
  3. These are all really good goals! I also have a Google calendar for books, but they’re just there to remind me of release dates and not necessarily for scheduling posts. I’m really bad at scheduling unless it’s for the next day. Anyways, DNFing books isn’t bad! Well I know it doesn’t feel good because we want to complete the book, but oh well. If you’re not enjoying it then there’s NO POINTTT in reading it 🙂

    I hope you have another amazing year at blogging. I’m sure you’ll be able to accomplish all these goals!

    Valerie recently posted: Top Ten Tuesday #37
  4. Good luck on all of your goals Lauren.

    I need to use the “DNF option” too. That would have saved a lot of “wasted” reading time and hiatuses (because I couldn’t stand a book, but I didn’t want to start a new one, but I HAD to finish it). I go to the library a lot, but I need to stop checking out so many books that I never end up getting to and get late fees for.

    I’m starting to “realize” I don’t have to post in a meme every week, so I’ve dropped Waiting On Wednesday unless there’s a release I’m really excited for. I want to interact with more bloggers too, I’m good at commenting back on my own blog, not so good at always remembering to comment on other blogs.

    • Thank you! Yeah DNFing is a big deal for me because I always want to give the book a chance. BUT if I really don’t like it and don’t care what happens, I should just put it down instead of dreading every time I sit down to read. I’m the same way with library books.

  5. These are some great resolutions! I especially love that you want to write more discussion posts because, well, those are my favorite types of posts! It’s the reason why I do the weekly recaps. I love highlighting all the discussion posts bloggers do! (So yes, I’m definitely watching this space for discussions to link to each week!!)

    I have the same issue when it comes to commenting on other bloggers. For me, my priority is always writing posts for the blog, and then responding to comments on the blog, and then commenting elsewhere. With my free time nothing like it once was, I really only ever get around to those first two things. By the time it comes to commenting elsewhere I’m just exhausted and give up. I’m trying to change that though! If I can just keep on top of things and respond to comments when I get them instead of putting them off until I have 50 to do, then maybe it won’t be as bad. I can only do my best, right?

    175 is a massive Goodreads challenge! I usually stick with 50, but this year I dropped it to 40. I feel like such fail when I compare it to the crazy amount others read! :O

    I hope you have an amazing 2015 Lauren! Thanks for being a friend and commenting on Oh, the Books! 🙂

    • Thank you! I’m going to try hard to comment more around. The people who comment most on my blog have Blogger accounts and I always have issues with their comment system, so I feel awful I never comment back to the people who deserve it most. I’m definitely good at commenting back on my own blog though 😛
      I’m nervous about my Goodreads challenge because it’s going to be a big jump, but I’m reading more than ever before. Everyone’s lives are different and only lend a certain amount of time to reading! I’m lucky that I work only 10 minutes from home and that my boyfriend and I are big homebodies. He’ll sit and build Legos or play video games while I read. There’s lots of time for reading in my apartment! haha
      Thanks for featuring me on Oh, the Books! I love reading your posts and look forward to 2015 🙂

  6. Limiting review books is one of my goals as well. I do the same thing as you sometimes on Edelweiss! I go on and see oh, that’s a nice cover what’s it about? And then get it. I need to just learn to peruse for ones that I’ve already been eagerly anticipating! I starting utilizing the library more at the end of 2013 for the same reason. I’ve found that since I’ve started blogging I’ve been a bit more ‘less pleased’ about books that I was prior to blogging so I liked borrowing to see if I really did want to own the book! And it worked well 🙂

    You have a lot of really great reading & blogging goals Lauren! I hope your successful in all of them 🙂 Happy New Year!

    Lauren @ Lose Time Reading recently posted: Top Ten Tuesday (86)

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