2023 Resolutions and Goals

Posted January 12, 2023 / Book Challenges, Features / 0 Comments

I’ve been making these posts ALMOST every year since starting my blog (20152016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022). I fell off the wagon for 2021 but I was back preparing for 2022. I posted a few resolutions on my Instagram stories (trying to be better about being active there!) and was reminded to make this post for 2023. I took off the personal resolution section because I just don’t believe in them. I prefer to have some areas of focus for each year but don’t find value in them overall.

  • Stay on track or ahead of my Goodreads challenge | I got really behind last year and will touch on this more a few bullets down, but I want to have my Goodreads goal always say I’m on track or ahead throughout the year. If I read 6-7 books per month as I discuss below, I can maintain my goal progress instead of scrambling in November and December.
  • Keep up Instagram stories about current and completed reads | I usually do this for a few months and lose interest, but I hope that I can keep it up this year. I’m feeling pretty good about where I am overall and hope to build up my Instagram in general. I want to keep up with sharing what I’m currently reading, reviews when I finish books, monthly wrap-ups and TBRs, etc.
  • Read 1-3 owned (physical) books per month | I read a ton of Kindle books each year but have been slightly getting better at reading physical books too. I hope to read a couple of these per month at least to keep that ratio up. This should be more about purchased and owned books rather than physical books in general (like from the library).
  • Try to balance reading and other hobbies better | I’m keeping this one here for a few reasons. I rephrased this for 2022’s post because historically I had felt too pressured to read all the time, which lead to reading upwards of 150-180 books per year. My other hobbies totally fell off. 2020 and 2021 were some of my lowest reading years since I started blogging in 2014 so this is now about continuing to maintain balance. If anything, I should be reading MORE in order to balance things out. I spend too much time playing the Pokemon Trading Card Game online or scrolling on my phone while watching TV at night. A coworker asked us for our “word of the year” for 2023 and I chose “balance” for all of these reasons. Better balance between work and fun, reading and other hobbies – the list goes on.
  • Read less than 75% contemporary and mystery/thrillers | Again, still under 50% contemporary reads! Just barely this year, though. I noted in my Instagram resolutions that I want to read more widely across genres like I used to. Even though I was reading over 50% contemporary fiction in previous years, the other percentage was pretty diverse across fantasy, mystery, science fiction, etc. Now, I read 75% or more contemporary books and mystery/thrillers and very little in other genres. I’m hoping to have the contemp-mystery combo be less than 3/4 of books read. I specifically hope to read more fantasy this year!
  • Intentionally read more diverse books instead of accidentally | I finally read more than 50% diverse books (including books with “limited” diversity, meaning side characters basically). This has happened more accidentally than intentionally because many authors and publishers have been actively trying to increase diversity in their titles – again, even if that means some side characters are POC, LGBT+, etc. In any case, this year I’d like to read more diverse books actively instead of just realizing it once I’ve started reading, if that makes sense.
  • Focus on getting my Netgalley ratio above 80% | I still haven’t done this for the millionth year. I’m always in the 70% range! I want to try to genuinely keep on top of egalleys this year and hopefully that makes a big difference… (yes, broken record from every other year!).
  • Finish a few book series | This one is still on here. I don’t want to abandon some series that I used to like just because time has passed. I should finally make a blog post about this to spark my interest when I’m in the mood to read something else. I stray away from backlist books quite often, which is another habit I should get away from. Maybe that’s a 2024 resolution, to read more backlist titles…

  • Post more consistently on the blog, beyond TTTs and wrap-ups | I haven’t been a great blogger lately. The space has changed and most of my friends barely post, if they post or maintain their blog at all! I do still like tracking my reads and sharing here but need to find a good balance (word of the year again) for posting and using social media as well. In any case, I hope to keep up with my usual posts each month and week, but would love to include discussion posts again.

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