Hey!

I hope you’re having a great start to the new year. I thought I would once again post my reading/blogging goals for the year. It’s always fun to think about and to make lists. Some of these goals may be repeats or similar from last year, because I really want to continue to stick to these goals this year as well or finally accomplish them if I haven’t in past years. I am trying to keep this list a little shorter than previous years, because after a year like 2020 was….I just want a relaxed and less stressful year as far as everything goes.

2021 Goodreads Challenge. I am keeping my Goodreads challenge to 50 books. If it wasn’t for counting audiobooks toward my reading challenge goal last year (which I don’t usually do), I wouldn’t have completed my challenge. So, I’ll just keep it at 50 books and hope for the best. Last year was a weird year as I have said over and over again. I am hoping this year is better and I do end up reading a lot more!

ARCs/no ARCs. I am going to try really hard not to request any (or many) ARCs this year. Last year I was getting so swamped with ARCs and I was barely read much, it was a struggle to keep up and I ultimately fell behind. I want to try to focus on the ARCs I still have from last year that I didn’t get the chance to read. I want to get those read and reviewed. I’m sure I’ll still get a few here and there and that’s fine, but I don’t think I’ll go looking and requesting much (if at all).

2017 or older TBR jar. So, I found my old TBR jar of books that I added from 2017 or earlier. I want to try to read one book a month from that jar. It should be doable since it’s only one book a month from that jar, but we shall see! I think it’ll be fun to try to read books from there and FINALLY get around to some of those older books on my shelves/Kindle. My January pick is All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven. And speaking of older books, that brings me to my next goal. *EDIT ON 2/19*: I created a new TBR jar and will be using that to read books that are 2019 or older.

Read 15 of my own books. What I mean by this is reading older books I own and not counting rereads. Books I buy this year do not count toward this goal. I struggle a lot with this goal every single year, because new books get released and then I read a lot of library books and ARCs. I am drowning in unread books that I bought years ago. Last year I set this number to 25, but I was only able to read 12. So, this year I am shooting for a lower number and if I read books from my old TBR jar, I will do pretty great at this goal.

Write more reviews. I have been totally slacking on writing reviews over the last couple years. I used to review everything I read and then for some reason I stopped doing that and only reviewed ARCs or super new releases. I want to get back into the habit of writing reviews again, so I want to at least try to write reviews for a lot of the books that I read whether they be full reviews or mini ones. I will still probably not write a review for every single book I read, but I want to at least write more than I have been. Maybe at least two or three reviews a month? I’m not really setting a number for this goal though, it’s just a thought and not necessarily a goal that I will be really working hard toward.

Focus more on my blog and new content.  It’s not a surprise that the last few years haven’t been the greatest as far as blogging goes. I didn’t blog nearly as much as I wanted to. I want to try to get a blogging schedule going and come up with some new content to include as well. I also want to start sharing my pictures again. I was out of space, but I gained a little extra space after upgrading my blog to a professional account. I also really want to try to come up with a more permanent solution for the photo storage situation, because I never ended up doing that last year. I’m paying yearly for the upgraded blog, so I need to actually use it. It’s beginning to get harder to justify paying for something that I haven’t been using very much lately. Maybe I can find a new solution to this too. I want to get back to posting my pictures and random little trips I go on, even if lately those trips are just to parks because of covid.

I hope to be around more in 2021! I know I haven’t been around too much last year, but I am hoping that changes this year. I want to be around more. It might take some time, because I’m still trying to find a good balance now that I’m working again. This job is temporary though, so who knows what the rest of the year will look like. I love having this blog and I love connecting with you. I’ve gained so many new followers and friends throughout the years. In 2020, I almost made it to 2000 followers, which is pretty big to me! I am hoping that 2021 is a great year for blogging and meeting new friends and staying connected with you! I can’t wait to continue our friendships, creating new friendships, and reading all of your posts.

What are some goals you have for this year? Feel free to link me to your posts if you have one!

I usually make a list of personal goals, but I will not be doing that this year. I made a list of 11 or 12 goals for 2020 and I accomplished only one of them and it totally bummed me out. So, if anything, my one “personal” goal for 2021 is just do whatever makes me happy. Over the weekend I was able to do a bunch of blog hopping, which felt nice reading your posts again. Feel free to link me to any posts that I may I have missed that you want me to check out. Hopefully this week I’ll start working on (and posting) my star ratings for 2020. First up will be all the books that I gave five stars to in 2020.

In case you missed it;
2020 Year in Books.
Wrap Up|| December.
Book Haul|| December.

I hope you have a great day!