2024 Reading & Bookish Goals
Photo Credit: MagicBones
Happy 2024, y’all!
It’s a New Year, which means New Beginnings. We all get to wipe the slate clean and start a new year with fresh goals! In the non-reading parts of my life, I’ve gone through a goal setting process to help figure out my personal and work goals for the year and in that work I’ve realized that I want to make this the year of simplifying things. Less complex routines. Less stress. Just simple. Using the word simple as my guide, I established my reading and bookish goals for the year. Spoiler alert, I’m not setting a Reading Challenge goal this year. This year I’m focusing more on the simple act of reading and writing for fun. Quality over quantity.
Without further ado, here are my 2024 Reading & Bookish Goals:
Read for 30 Minutes Every Day
Instead of trying to hit a certain number of books by the end of the year, I’d like to focus more on reading every day for at least 30 minutes. I normally hit this either in listening to audiobooks throughout the day or reading before bed, but I’m not as consistent as I’d like to be. By making this a priority, I’m hoping it will just become routine. It’ll be interesting to see what this means in terms of total number of books at the end of the year, but it won’t be something I’m going to stress over.
Post More Reviews on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc.
I’m terrible at posting reviews on book buying sites. :/ And the worst part is that it’s one of the easiest way to support authors! They don’t have to be long and/or detailed, not to mention it’s FREE to leave a review! And I know this already! More exclamation points to show you I’m serious!! So if like me, you’re going on a no-buy/low-buy (see #5), this will still be a great way to support the authors you love.
Include More Reviews that are less than 3 stars
I’ve always taken the stance that I don’t review books that are less than 3 stars. Why? Because I hate confrontation and I’m always worried I’ll be hurting the author’s feelings. I mean this person WROTE A WHOLE BOOK so who am I to say it isn’t good. And if I can’t be positive then why post about it? But, I also agree that reviews are for readers, so by continuing to only post positive reviews, I’m doing other readers a disservice. How can people trust my bookish opinions if I’m only talking about what I liked or loved? Sometimes telling people why I don’t like a book is just as helpful if trying to determine what they should or shouldn’t read. So, the TL;DR? More honest reviews.
Write more non-review/bookish posts
So far on this blog, I’ve only ever really posted book reviews. Don’t get me wrong, I love writing book reviews, but I’ve got pages of bookish blog post ideas that I’ve never acted on and I want to grow my blog beyond book reviews. This year, I want to experiment, write a lot more, and try and hone my voice. I feel like this would be a good start.
Commit to a Low-Buy Year
Reading books and buying books are two very different things. And this past year, I bought WAY more than I read, and I feel guilty every time I see my bookshelves, so this year I’ve committed to a low buy year in both books and planners. The first will be hard. The second?? Let’s not talk about that right now, lol.
Use My Reading Journal Consistently
I would love nothing more than to have a completed reading journal to flip through at the end of the year. I’ve tried over the years, and come close, but never finished a full year. This year is the year!