Unbelievably enough, it’s 2023! It was like I blink and an entire year is already over. 2022 was just such a weird year and I had a ton of ups with just as many downs, but by the time New Year’s Eve rolled around, the year was ending on a great note and I was actually looking forward to January for the first time.
In 2022, I got myself a dog, I landed a new gig while resigning from my old one, I actually managed to read a ton of books despite the loss of time, I could have stuck to my goal of “read every single day” if I didn’t spend the last few months of the year doubling down on that job search, and I was even able to stick to a “a review a week” schedule for a good few months! That was probably my most surprising accomplishment of the year!
So, with the new year here, there’s nothing like a little 2022 goals wrap up and setting this year’s resolutions as well (because why not, right?)
2022 Resolutions & Goals Review
So did I accomplish and make it through at least some of my 2022 bookish goals? Let’s see:
- Read 30 Books
- Finish a Series
- Catch Up on the Virgil Flowers series
- Do a Themed Reading Month
- Read More Indie Books
- Read Every Day
- Raise My Ratio on NetGalley
Daily Reading & Goodreads Challenge (30 Books)
I was able to reach 30 books and then went over! I gave up on trying to redo my 100 days-in-a-row posting spree that I had done back in 2021, so instead I threw the do-more mentality into another goal instead. If I couldn’t post every day, maybe I could read every day instead. I stuck to the daily reading goals for almost the entire year until my job search in October threw me off track. I never realized how motivating a long streak really is until you lose the streak and simply go from 100 to 0 overnight. Once I missed a single day, it was game over to my motivation and I was stuck in a months-long reading slump. Or maybe it was just burnout…
Still, though, this daily reading goal did help with reaching my book count goal. The plan had been to read every single day whether it was 30 seconds or 30 minutes, whether it was 1 sentence or 100 pages. It didn’t matter so much as I picked up a book and settled down to try and read. And, what do you know? Once I got over the hump of getting started, I was easily able to do at least 30 pages a night, on busy days, and sometimes 60 to 100 pages during the weekends. Because, who sits down to read only 30 seconds, especially when your eyes accidentally stray to some crazy plot twist three paragraphs down, and now you’re too captivated to stop? By the end of 2023, I was able to call it quits at 46 books. So, that’s at least one goal down! Uni and High School me couldn’t have even imagine surpassing 10 books a year, let alone over four times that!
Finish a Series, Catch Up on Virgil Flowers & Do A Themed Month
Last year, I had two Sandford releases that I had my eyes on for a while but never got around to and not for the lack of time or motivation either. Virgil’s solo adventures are pretty much over at this point (from what I’ve seen so far and yes, I did cry). Ocean Prey is where Virgil and his ex-boss, Davenport, start to work together and Righteous Prey was his latest release (2022).
My goal, before reading Ocean Prey was to at least be all caught up on Virgil’s side of things (12 books not including Ocean Prey) because I knew I wasn’t going to be able to wait until after catching up on Davenport’s side of the story (30 books not including Ocean Prey). I spent all of February not only catching up to the latest books, but also either fully rereading or skimming old Virgil books (to remember some key character/plot points) while writing some throwback reviews on them. So I guess, in the end, I accomplished 3 of my goals in a single month back in February: To finish a series (Because I haven’t seen any newer Virgil Flowers solo book past Bloody Genius), to catch up on the Virgil Flowers series, and to have a themed month.
Read More Indie Books & Raising My NetGalley Ratio
With blog tours from TheWriteReads, being a BBNYA panelist, and just generally accepting and trying out new genres, I think I read some pretty unique books last year. Just to name a few, I really enjoyed the short story The House Plant by Jeremy Ray, The Way Out by Laura Stamps, Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree, #Rejected Goddesses by Nina Holmes and Natalie Watson, Song of Kitaba by Mark Everglade and The Journey of Artemis: EXODUS by Lamonte Louis. Then of course, there were all the excerpts as well as the three full reads from being a BBNYA panelist, all of which I really enjoyed. I think, I could count this as another goal reached and checked off the list!
NetGalley wise, while I didn’t read all that many books from the site I did manage to raise my ratio just a bit so that I was above the 80% mark and hey…I’m still there!
2023 Resolutions & Goals Review
And now, for this year’s goals!
Kick-Start back up my Daily Reading Goal
There was one reason and one reason only that had me abandon this goal last year and it was that I’d gotten so busy with life and work that I was either down on time or energy, or both, to have been able to squeeze that tiny 5 minutes of reading into each day. Not to jinx how good or bad my new job will be once I start in a couple of weeks, but I don’t anticipate to be drowning from the workload. I hope this means that, even on my busiest days this year, I won’t be so overwhelmed that I won’t have the time (or energy) to at least pick up my Kindle phone app to read for 5 minutes or even 5 sentences before bed!
Do a Themed Month
Sure, I accomplished this (if bingeing a single author/series in a month counts) back in 2022, but what I meant with a “themed month” was a Beach-Read-July, a Spooktober, or Merry Holidays December. I even had Spooktober’s TBR all picked out, but it had been right around the time when I had to give up on books (and games!) so that I could get serious with the job search and it was also about the same time I was losing steam after my poor streak kicked the bucket. December certainly didn’t fair any better afterwards! I hope to have a spooky October or at least have a Merry December month this year. Gosh, I missed it when I tried to do a holiday month of TBR back in 2020 too!
Be More Active on Instagram & Post More Reels
I have finally stopped denying that IG’s stupid algorithm has changed. I never did do well on that SM platform when I had it up as a Study IG (from back in college) so having the algorithm flip like that on me, when I was already not used to constantly taking even just photos had me reeling (pun!!). What do you mean I have to start uploading videos??
However, I won’t lie. Taking videos and editing them has been a little more fun and so this year, I plan on trying to upload more reels and be more active on there. I’m not even trying to grow on there. One small goal at a time, how about simply posting more?
(But, as of the time of drafting this post, I’m only 6 off from 500 followers so by all means…feel free to give me a follow 👀)
Post A Review A Week
Like the daily reading goal, for the same exact reason, there was only one reason I stopped doing this, and it was the lack of time and energy. And, like the reading goal, I fully intend to get back into this. It might take a little more time, but I’m hoping I can start with a review every two weeks and slowly move back to my “Reviews Every Thursday” schedule!
Goodreads Challenge
Ok. I know that I want to have no numerical pressure, but it just doesn’t feel right to have a bookish goals post without it. I also love watching my little challenge meter tick upwards, so I set another goal in GR. Of course, this year, I had a random number generator decide my goal for me. Right before going to bed on NYE, I picked a few colors and had the generator throw a number between 25 and 50 at me. Whatever color was closest to Goodread’s new challenge banner (flag? header?) was going to be my goal and this year, I’ll be aiming for 38 books.
Clear Five Books That I’ve Owned Forever and STILL Haven’t Read
Instead of placing a hard ban on buying books, this year, I would like to read the below 5 books that’s been sitting in my bookshelf/Kindle forever (and ever and ever). I want to at least clear these five. Any more than that will be bonus points. I can do that, right?
- Open Season C.J. Box
- Duplicity by Newt Gingrich & Pete Earley
- Chronicles of the Black Company by Glen Cook
- Airedale by Dylan Byford
- The Labyrinth of Flame by Courtney Schafer
And that’s my list of bookish goals for 2023!
I think they’re pretty do-able goals! Let me know what your goals are for this year, bookish or not! I better run off to actually pick a current read, least I miss the very first day of my very first goal of the year!
Happy New Year! May this be a prosperous and good one to us all!
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