2018 Mid-Year Reading Statistics & Goals

I love tracking my TBR and trying to see what else there is to accomplish by halfway through the year. I always hope it shocks me into completing challenges and really focusing in on my bookish goals. I decided to split this year’s check-in into two posts so I could really hone in on some specifics. Today’s post is about the usual stuff: what I’ve read and my goal progress. Wednesday’s post is about my challenges’ status and TBRs for the rest of the year. Check out last year’s post if you’re curious!

As you see in my monthly wrap-ups, I keep my stats updated each time. The spreadsheet I use is definitely the reason for my organization. I use this time of year (in addition to the end of the year) to REALLY go all-out with my stats. It also helps me create new goals or update existing ones. I may decide I really should read more fantasy or more books from my own shelves. I’ll highlight all of the books I’ve read so far in general too.

All of the Books Read So Far

Random Fun

Smallest book read: Home to Honeymoon Harbor (66)
Largest book read: Obsidio (615)
Most read author: RaeAnne Thayne (3)

Books read 300 pages or under: 24%
Books read over 300 pages: 76%

Most pages / books in a month:
4,765 pages in January / 14 books in January
Least pages / books in a month:
2,624 pages in April / 7 books in June

At the beginning of the year, there was a TTT for your 2016 resolutions – bookish or otherwise. I always use that topic to explain the reading, blogging, and personal (but somewhat bookish) goals for the year. I usually don’t revisit these too much but I hope this midpoint check-in is enough to make them top of mind again. I’ll talk about my “progress” on each of these goals/resolutions and let you know if I consider it a pass, fail, or ehhh attempt.

Continue to not feel pressured to read and enjoy other hobbies

PASS: I think I’ve done a good job of this. Lowering my reading goal again to 120 is much easier, especially because I know off the top of my head how many books I need to be at by the end of the month. (By the end of July, I should be at 70, etc.). 10 books per month is very doable for me, and will get even easier when I’m commuting to work again. I’ve gotten into watching YouTube but that’s about it. Now that we’re settled back in CT, my other hobbies will be readily available. I don’t feel the need to sit and read all night, every night. I try to focus on it before bed and in the morning.

Read 50% or less contemporary novels

PASS-ISH: I’m glad that I actually put a number to this goal, unlike last year. I usually hover around the 50-60% mark for contemporary, but closer to 60%. I knew I wanted to diversify my reading a bit more, genre-wise, so this was a good number. As of writing this post, I’m at 56% contemporary. This is pretty good considering I didn’t even remember I made this goal! I have been more in the mood lately to read other genres so I’m going to pay closer attention to this number and be sure I bring it down a little more.

Read books from my shelves (one per month)

IN PROGRESS: I definitely thought I failed this until I checked the number!! I brought a small stack of books to Maine and read like two of them… and bought a few more. However, I saw on my spreadsheet that I’ve read seven books from my shelves, which is actually on target. Overall though, I was so bad about pulling from my shelves because I was on a huge Kindle kick, and when I wasn’t reading on that, I was using library books. I want to keep this up and definitely pull more from the shelves when I have a larger selection to pick from. I said I wanted to read more than 20 in 2018 though, so that means my “one per month” thing was just a way of switching things up. We’ll see how I can catch up…

Start and complete 3 series, at least one reread

IN PROGRESS: I have started a few series this year, but many of them are still being published. It seems like the most likely ones I can start and finish are these two: JACKABY (finishing for book club this month) and HOPE’S CROSSING (I was going to read one per month but I paused a while ago — should be able to finish by the end of the year). As for the third one, which should be a reread, I’ve been thinking about the GOSSIP GIRL series. It’d be a long one but quick at the same time, so we’ll see.

Pay off my credit card and/or develop a system

FAIL: I can’t even really mark this one as “in progress” because of how much money we’ve spent lately on everything. I’m definitely hoping that being settled back in Connecticut will give me the time and money to pay this down and develop a system. I have good cash back options for it so I want to use it more, but pay it off better. I’m thinking my system could be to just use it for groceries and gas, so I get the cash back, then pay it in full each month.

Organize my life and purge a lot of things

UP NEXT: Moving away with minimal things was good, but we still have a LOT to go through in Chris’s parents’ basement. We just got back so our plan is to go there over the next month or two and actually go through our belongings before moving the boxes to our new place. I can’t say that this is in progress yet but it’s not a fail, since I haven’t had an actual opportunity to work on it. It’s coming up!

Be more proactive in my career

FAIL-ISH: As I said in my original post: 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. I think there have been moments where I’m good about this, but a lot of moments where I haven’t been. I definitely need to work on this!

Develop a blog schedule for each week that mixes it up

PASS-ISH: I haven’t developed a schedule per se, but I do a good job of mixing in the bookish and the personal. I try to only post 1-2 review-related posts each week, in addition to TTT and other wrap-ups. I like to have personal or lifestyle posts when inspiration strikes. I haven’t been strict on a schedule but I like the idea I shared before: Monday would be for book review(s), Tuesday for TTT, Wednesday for something personal, etc. – this could change depending on the date/time of the month but it’s a good method overall.

Develop a review system

ACCEPTABLE FAIL: I decided that I don’t really care about having a review system. I do like to mix up different kind of reviews to keep things interesting, depending on the book and my feelings. I do ARC reviews by themselves or sometimes with one other. I like Review Round-Up posts for backlist titles or new releases. There are other quick reviews for when I don’t have much to say, like Goodreads snapshots. This is a fine system that offers variety.

Several of my goals are in progress or a somewhat pass, so there are definitely some to focus on for the rest of the year still! I’m going to fine-tune a few things and get more specific below. My goals for the second half of the year include some of the same from last year.

1. Post more original topics or discussion posts
2. Develop more recommendation lists
3. Comment more on other blogs
4. Carve out time each week to blog and do it less when I shouldn’t
5. Get my contemporary romance numbers down around or below 50% of books read
6. Read more books on my shelves
7. Complete the three series I mentioned above
8. Pay down my credit card by the end of the year; develop a good system for using it

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