Hey!
I decided to come up with a list of things I hope to accomplish or do more of in 2018 as far as reading/books go. I will have another list for regular life things later, but this one will be about books!
2018 Goodreads challenge. My Goodreads reading challenge is to read 60 books. In 2017 I read 59 books and listened to 8 audiobooks. Since I was able to read 59 books in 2017, I decided to increase my Goodreads challenge to 60. I think it’s doable, especially since 2017 I didn’t read nearly as much as I have in the past due to being busy and quite a few reading/blogging slumps. I am not going to count audiobooks this year toward my Goodreads challenge, but I will still list all the audiobooks that I listen to in recaps or my 2018 books I read page here. So that means my main goal is to read 60 books myself and audiobooks don’t count toward that total.
Read more adult books. I love YA, I always gravitate more toward YA, but I have so many adult books that I’ve been neglecting. I want to get to more of those books and finally read some of the ones that I’ve had for awhile and just never got to. Don’t get me wrong, I still and forever will love YA, but it’ll be nice to branch out more. I enjoy adult books as well, I just never read as many.
Read my unfinished series. I have started a lot of book series over the last few years and haven’t finished them. I want to finish the completed series and catch up to the newest books in the uncompleted series that I’ve started. In 2017 I gravitated toward more standalone books, because I felt so guilty starting a new series when I have so many that I haven’t finished yet. So I want to get to more of those, so I can finally start some new series that I’ve been dying to read. I used to read an entire series (if it was an older one and had all or most books out) before I even started a new book/series. I need to do that again, which brings me to my next thing.
Binge read any new series I start. If I start a new book series and it has more than one book out, I want to binge all the available books instead of putting them on hold and reading other books. Before I started my blog in 2015, I used to do that like I mentioned above. I never even bought a new book until I finished the one I was currently reading; unless it was a series that I was loving, then I bought all the books and binge read them all. Not going to lie, as much as I love blogging and everyone I met here, it’s kind of changed my reading habits A LOT. Now I’m drowning in unread books and unfinished series.
Continue to buy less books. In 2017 I did a pretty good job with not buying so many books. I used my library a lot more if I was dying to read something that I didn’t have. It helped me with finally reading more of the older books I’ve had on my shelf’s that I hadn’t read yet and kept neglecting due to buying more and more books every month. So I want to continue to not buy so many new books and continue to read my older books.
Get rid of books I don’t like/plan to reread. I’m out of bookshelf space. I continue to run out of bookshelf space. #bookwormproblems. I want to put an empty box next to my bookshelf, so if I don’t like a book or it was just “okay” and I don’t have any real connection to it, I plan to drop it in the empty box instead of putting it back on my shelf. Once the box is filled, I will donate the books or give them away and continue again. I want to try to own books I REALLY love versus having a ton of books taking up space that could be used for new books.
Don’t fall behind on ARCs. I read a lot of ARCs in 2017. Probably more than my previous years of blogging. It was part of my plan for buying less books in 2017. If I got them from publishers, I would be able to read the books I wanted, blog about them, and if I truly loved them I would buy the finished copies for myself when they got released. It worked great, but toward the end of the year with the holidays and blogging slump, I fell a bit behind. I am playing catch up now and although I don’t plan to request as much this year, I don’t want to get behind on any that I do request.
These are pretty much my main focus for 2018 as far as reading and books go. I also want to have fun with this, so I am not putting any pressure whatsoever, because then that just sucks the fun out of it and I’ll not want to try anymore. I don’t really have any set goals for blogging, because I struggled in 2017 with it becoming a chore rather than fun. So I am going to continue to post the content that I want to post (whether books, photography, travel, etc.) and post when I want to. I don’t want to feel like I have to or it’ll again not feel fun to me and I may not be around much again. I also have a ton of things happening in 2018 that I haven’t talked about yet, so that may take up some of my time as well. It’s all about balance and I have to find something that works for me.
What are some goals you have for this year? Feel free to link me to your posts if you have one!
In case you missed it;
New Year, New Blog.
Recap|| December.
Random|| Christmas & Other Things.
I hope you have a great day!
socially awkward bookworm. 
One of my goals for 2018 is to also catch up on my series. I would also binge read series, now I don’t so much and I am really trying to change that. I wish you good luck in your goals!
Thank you! Good luck to the both of us with catching up on all of these series we started. I hope to get back into the habit of binge reading them right away instead of putting them on hold.
Loving your goals. I desperately want to make a dent in my tbr so I joined the Beat the Backlist challenge ❤
Thank you! Good luck with the beat the backlist challenge. That sounds like a challenge I should do!
Yes, join! 😁
I feel the series thing so much. I made the mistake of reading one or two books in a series, feeling like I was neglecting other books, put the series on hold, then never got round to reading the next book. Then because I’ve left so much time in between them I have forgotten so much! So I’m definitely joining you on the commitment to finishing series this year, and also not falling behind on ARCs because that is definitely my Achilles heel at the moment!
Same, ughh. I always read one or two of the books in a series and move on to other books and never come back to them until I’ve forgotten everything. I have to look up book recaps or reread books. I like rereading books, but not always since there are so many books in the world that I want to read and I can’t keep spending so much time rereading books LOL. I’m usually so good about staying caught up with ARCs, but then always toward the end of the year I get behind somehow! Good luck to the both of us! 🙂
Good luck on all of these!
Thank you!
Hi Ashley! One of my goals is also to binge read new series. I’ve fallen into a nasty habit of reading only the first book in a series, and not continuing with it for at least several months. I hope to fix that in 2018! Good luck with all your goals! 🙂
Thank you! 🙂
Good luck with binge reading new series! I’m the same way with only reading one or two books in the series and then picking up other books and completely forgetting about them. Hopefully we both can fix that this year!
These all sound like great goals to have this year! A few of them I hope to accomplish myself lol. Happy reading and good luck! 🙂
Thanks, Maren! 🙂
Loving your goals! I really have to focus on my series this year as well… Good luck with these and happy reading!
Thanks! 🙂 Finishing series is definitely one of the top goals I want to try hard to accomplish this year.
I’m almost afraid to look up how many series I’ve started and haven’t finished yet. It gets harder the more time that passes too. I routinely do book unhauls because I’d run out of room far too quickly (even when I pledge to buy less). I also want to own a library of books I love than just fill my shelves with as many books as possible. Good luck with all your goals!
My count is 20+ series that I’ve started and haven’t finished or caught up to the most current book. YIKES, lol. I’ve felt so bad about it, so hopefully this year I can fix that and actually finish them all or most. I want to own a library of books, but I also run out of room so quickly and have to get rid of some. I think I rather own books I love though versus just a bunch of random books too. I think unhauling books helps with keeping books you love/want to read and make room for new books lol. Thanks! 😀
Aah I totally relate to falling behind on ARCs haha. Good luck with the book donating / clearing bookshelf. It’s so hard for me to do, always. Happy new year!
Thank you! It sucks falling behind on ARCs, but I am hoping to catch up on all the ones I currently have and try not to request as much. It’s always hard to get rid of books, but sometimes it has to happen lol. I have way too many and I know most of them I probably won’t get around to reading anytime soon or at all with how many new books that get released that I want to read. The older books kind of get forgotten. Happy New Year to you too! 🙂
These are great goals, Ashley! I also set my Goodreads Challenge to 60 books. Even if I read more last year, I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself 🙂 Best of luck for all of these 😀
Thank you, Marie! Good plan about not wanting to put too much pressure on yourself. Too much pressure tends to make things not as fun. Good luck to us both on reading 60 books this year! 🙂
These are some really good goals Ashley! I swear your ability to refrain from buying tons of books is seriously admirable in my book (see what I did there?) 😂 I’m also going to start reading my Adult Fiction & Fantasy books cause I have one full bookcase that’s unread *for shame* & lastly, finish some series…YASSSS! started way too many & need to go back, some have already ended & I’m sitting on “I read the first one” 😂😂😂 Great set gf goals, I hope you meet them all 💜
Thanks, Lilly! Although I am pretty good about not buying books lately, it’s only the 8th day of the month and I already got six books (including 2 preorders) and a few ebooks LOL! UGHH. I have so many adult fiction books that I haven’t read yet, it’s kind of crazy. I want to try to read more of them this year, for sure. Good luck to the both of us with that one. I have at least 20 unfinished series that I need to finish or catch up to the most recent book UGH. I HATE starting any new series these days, because I feel so guilty for not finishing those I already started. I need to finish some of those, so I can finally start some new series that I’ve been dying to read. Thanks! ❤
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