2018 Resolutions and Challenge Sign-Up

I’ve been doing these resolutions for the past couple of years and found that it’s a really nice way to keep track of some goals for the upcoming year. I’ll be honest when I say that generally “resolutions” or the “clean slate of a new year” isn’t my shtick, but sometimes the marking of a new year just helps when setting new goals. It’s an easy marker of time and that’s about it. You can find 2015, 2016, and 2017 resolutions as well.

• Continue to not feel pressured to read and enjoy other hobbies | I feel like a broken record with this one but honestly I have to remind myself every year to KEEP DOING THIS. I used to get so bogged down in meeting my goal or challenges that I would focus exclusively on reading every second I could. I would have the audiobooks going during my morning routine in commute, plus another book to read from the second I sat on the couch after dinner until bedtime. It’s nice to read all time because DUH I love reading, but I really want to feel like I can veg out for a week straight with my favorite show instead.
• Read 50% or less contemporary novels | Last year I didn’t have a specific target in line for this goal, so it didn’t really work out. I finished with about 60% contemporary, which isn’t bad, but not what I was hoping for. It’d be really nice to expand my writing yet again into historical fiction, fantasy, and mystery/thriller books instead of mostly contemporary.
• Read books from my shelves (at least one every month, total of 20+ in 2018) | I’ve always been bad about reading owned books because I have the library for new releases, as well as egalleys or other ARCs. I have a tendency of reading something new (or rereading something very old) instead of pulling backlist titles from my shelves. My major goal is to read at least one owned physical copy (that I didn’t buy in 2018) each month, but in total read about 20 from my shelves. That means obviously there will be a lot of months where I read 2 or more.
• Start and complete 3 series next year, at least one reread | I seriously enjoyed my nostalgic rereads last year that I had been putting off and I hope to binge another handful of series in 2018. I have a few that I’m targeting but I don’t want to limit myself here by naming them. I have a couple of new or complete series that I want to start and a couple I’d like to reread. Two of the reading challenges below will enable to read a bit more diversely across genres so that’ll help too.

• Develop a blog schedule for each week that mixes in bookish and personal | I’m really enjoying my new approach to blogging where I essentially talk about whatever I want. The downside of it is that Bookmark Lit kind of feels all over the place? I could have one week where there are 100% bookish posts, including multiple reviews, and other weeks where everything feels personal (or wrap-ups) minus TTT. I hope to figure out a weekly and monthly guideline for myself where I can space out the different types of posts I like. Monday would be a review round-up or ARC review, Tuesday would be TTT, Wednesday would be something personal, etc. – you get the idea. Nothing TOO strict but just something to keep the variety up!
• Develop a review system | I have a lot of different reviews on here. I do ARC reviews by themselves usually, round-ups for already published books, and some super small reviews if I don’t have a lot to say. I feel like my system is a little all over the place so I want to figure out what I like to do, then implement it. I’m keeping this vague because my answer may be to just keep things as they are.

• Pay off my credit card and/or develop a system for using it | I don’t have as big of an issue here as others might, but it’s still been weighing on me. 2018 is THE YEAR I pay this baby off. I also wanted to mention the possibility of just developing some kind of system for using it, for the purposes of getting cash back. If I decide to use my card for all of my clothing, food/groceries, and other necessities, then pay it off each week, I’ll collect some cash back. I’m not sure what I’ll end up doing here but something will be done for sure.
• Organize my life and purge a lot of things | I have sooo much random bullshit I need to throw away and organize. I have about 6 months left in Maine at this point (womp) so none of the organization plans will really happen until after that point, but there are so many basic things I need to deal with. The biggest one is a box of Christmas ornaments and decorations. They’re just bugging me in an open bin in Chris’s parents’ basement.
• Be more proactive in my career | I like recruiting overall but I think sometimes I get bogged down by the monotony and/or bad news. I don’t follow up and follow through on things sometimes because I’m nervous about hearing the news, if that makes sense. I want to be more aggressive and proactive in 2018.

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As you’ve learned, signing up for new year-long reading challenges is a huge part of my December fun. I do a great job completing them (pats self on back) and usually get them all done… sometimes with the exception of one challenge. This year, I really wanted to hone in on areas of my reading I hope to improve. This includes reading more diversely (both in the actual diverse/own voices books, and also widely across genres). My usual challenges do a good job of keeping me going on certain types of reads, but I’ve found that they’re less of an actual challenge. This year, I’m focusing on challenges with very specific prompts, similar to the bingo-related challenges I usually love to do each season. I’m also doing a Netgalley challenge because I want that 80% ratio baby! I’m so close.

2018 Netgalley & Edelweiss Challenge

Hosted by Bookish Things & More

Challenge: The motivation for this challenge is to read your review books from Netgalley and Edelweiss, then review them on your blog. The ultimate goal is to get the ratio to 80% and also achieve one of the levels described below.

Personal goal: Get my Netgalley ratio to 80% and uhhh start using Edelweiss again…

Details/TBR: There are a few different levels to aspire to: Bronze (10 books), Silver (25), Gold (50), Platinum (75), and Diamond (100). I don’t have THAT many books on NG/EW that need to be read, compared to other people I think, so I’ll probably target the Silver level. This is assuming that I get approved for more books throughout the year as well.

PopSugar Reading Challenge

Hosted by PopSugar

Challenge: Read books that fit the 40 normal and 10 advanced prompts. I’ll be pulling from both sections simultaneously because there are a few in the advanced section that are more appealing to me. I like the idea of this challenge of specific goals and the sense of community when reading off of the list. I joined the Goodreads group already for ideas!

Personal goal: Complete 40/50 challenge prompts (all 50 if possible as a stretch goal!)

Details/TBR: The prompts are below in the graphic (too long for the page, so I used a scroll box).

Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenge

Hosted by Modern Mrs. Darcy

Challenge: Read books that fit the 12 categories below.

Personal goal: Complete all of challenge prompts, doing one per month. I don’t do a great job of reading Modern Mrs. Darcy because my reading tastes are too narrow lately. I’m hoping this challenge (a) gives me a good reason to take recommendations from her blog and (b) increases the kind of books I’m reading. Again, my personal goal here is to read one of these categories each month.

Details/TBR: The prompts are below in the graphic (too long for the page, so I used a scroll box).

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