Let's Chat Goals
Last year I changed up how I looked at my reading life and therefore set goals. It was so freeing to not to have a specific number goal to hit, and I've decided to repeat that this year! According to Goodreads, my goal is 0 books. This means I'll always be exactly where I am and nothing more, nothing less. As for the sixteen books I set intentionally to read (see that post here), I read five of them. Out of those five, three of them made my top ten! While it wasn't exactly a rousing success, I wouldn't call it an utter failure either. The other aspect of my goal was to utilize a reading journal to become more organized. I really enjoyed having a pre-made journal instead of having to make one myself. This made it so much more feasible for me to accomplish. This year, I am once again planning to use a reading journal to help me track my thoughts, ratings, and reviews. Overall, 2022 was a great reading year and I'm excited to see how some of these previous goals morph and impact 2023.
Looking forward to this year, I've picked a couple non-numeric goals as well as some intentional titles that help me achieve them. Will I get to all of these pre-set titles? Probably not. I am a huge mood reader after all. But setting forth with some intentionality does allow me to purposefully explore authors and titles I might not otherwise pick up. With that in mind, let's dive in!
Goal #1: Review books more consistently.
I did really well at the beginning of 2022 keeping up, but as the months progressed I fell further and further behind. I fully recognize that finishing a home addition, being pregnant, and having a baby impacted this a lot. I'm okay with how the year turned out. Realistically, I think I just need to get back into the swing of things and develop a rhythm for reviewing.
Goal #2: Read every day -- for both me and the kids (even if it's just five minutes)!
If I read for five minutes every day, that's 5 times 365, which equals 1825 minutes (or 30.4 hours). Just barely more than a day. Yet I know that by shooting for five minutes each day likely means I'll read longer and it will become a great habit (especially in this season of two littles where leaving the house by one self is difficult and self-care has to get creative).
Goal #3: Explore more new to me authors in diverse genres.
I'm really excited about the opportunity to be more intentional about the authors I choose to read this year. I have so many on my bookshelf waiting to be read, so I'm likely going to combine this with reading my physical/electronic TBR and dwindling down my unread shelf (a la Whitney over @theunreadshelf). One way I'm doing this is by participating in the Diversity Across Genres Challenge being hosted by Sam (on IG as @reading.and.roaming) and Rebecca (on IG as @booksonadventures). I started with Legendborn by Tracey Deonn (see my review here!), and As Long As the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh is up next!
I'm really excited for this reading year, and there look to be some really great books getting released as well! What are your goals for this year?