I’ve got a lot of ambitious goals for 2019, so I wanted to share them with you all here. I didn’t want to include my life goals in this post because it was already getting to be quite long, but if you’re interested in those as well then let me know and I’ll write up a separate post for those.
Low Goodreads Goal
I’ve set myself a low Goodreads goal again this year because it worked out really well for me last time. I had a couple of poor reading years in 2016 and 2017, and I was so upset when I reduced my Goodreads challenge goal so I would still get a badge. Last year, I decided to set my goal to 5, and I reached it within the first two weeks of January. After that, I didn’t have to think about the challenge at all, and it was incredibly freeing. You might be wondering why I bother to set a challenge at all, and all I have to say to that is that I have done so every year since I started blogging in 2010, and I have no intention of stopping now.
Reduce my TBR
My eBook TBr is a lost cause, but I really want to reduce my physical TBR this year. I currently have about 250 books split between my flat and my grandad’s house where I used to live. I’m determined to get this number down to about 200 in 2019. I’ve not set myself a crazy goal or anything, and I’d also like to enjoy new releases as well as get my hands on backlist books that I’ve had my eye on for a while. But I think reducing my TBR by ~50 is reasonable, since I read almost 120 books in 2019. I won’t be buying 70 books in 2019, I can assure you!
Take part in more readathons
Something I’ve really missed since leaving Booktube and taking multiple breaks from the community is taking part in readathons. I absolutely love them. They’re a real challenge and they bring the entire community together, and I have a lot of fun with them. I’d ideally like to take part in at least one readathon a month, although if I can’t find the time to take part in a community readathon, I’d like to challenge myself to do my own 24 hour or 48 hour readathon. At least that way I’m still challenging myself! So far in 2019 I’ve taken part in Bout of Books (kind of… I missed the chat), and I’m currently doing the Biannual Bibliothon this week. If you have any readathon suggestions I would love it if you left them in the comments below!
Finish some series
Ha! I keep trying to do this but it’s always a disaster. This year, I would definitely like to finally finish The Demon King series, and anything other than that will be a plus. I also want to finish the Hush, Hush series because I never got around to Finale. You older bloggers will remember that series with, uh, fondness.
Host a Readathon
In relation to my readathon goal above, I also want to host my own! I want to bring the Debutathon back this year, possibly at the end of June or beginning of July. It’ll take a lot of planning, and I don’t want to do it if it’s only going to be half-arsed, so I need to make sure I’m ready for it first. I haven’t hosted it since 2013 or 2014, so it’ll take some effort!
Post more discussions
This is a goal of mine that keeps coming up, because I just never push myself to do it. I’ve got a lot of interesting (in my opinion) ideas for topics, but I never it down to plan them properly. I’m more likely to post my discussions as videos on Booktube because I find it a lot easier to ramble to a camera than write down my thoughts coherently. This’ll take some work, but I’d like to post at least six discussion posts this year on my blog, and possibly more on Booktube.
Post more creative posts
I have so many ideas for challenge videos or projects or posts, and I’d like to actually get them out there this year! I’m already working on my first one, and a couple of my other ideas won’t be too challenging, so I’m really excited to get these ideas out there and share them with the community. I’m not ready to share what they are yet because I’m paranoid that people will copy my ideas and then they won’t be so original. Especially if people get the ideas out there earlier than I do!
Review every 2019 book I read
This is a pretty simple one. I realise that reviewing books is vital to get books and authors essential promotion, so I want to be better at reviewing the books I read. I’d have to review three books a week to get through every single book I read in a year, so I’ve set myself the challenge of reviewing every single 2019 release that I read instead. If I review any backlist titles as well, that’ll be a good bonus.
Be better at social media
Pretty self explanatory! I’m awful at social media nowadays because I just can’t balance social media, blogging, Booktube, and life. I want to get into some kind of rhythm this year and be better at marketing my blog and my Booktube channel, as well as Recaptains. I want to get back into Bookstagram, but that’ll probably be more lowkey since I’m not all that into taking photos any more. It’ll probably be more of a way to promote my posts than anything. How active is the Bookstagram community nowadays anyway? I’ve been gone for three years so I imagine it has changed a lot.
Vlog more
And, finally, I want to vlog more! I was vlogging weekly for the first half of 2018, but then I started doing more sitdown videos and my vlogs took a backseat. I’d like to bring vlogging back properly this year. It’d be great if I could weekly vlog, but I want to vlog at least twice a month at the absolute minimum. I think this’ll work well with my readathon goal, since I’ll be able to vlog my readathons and keep track of them that way.
I think your goals are great! My goodreads challenge is only to read 20 books, it’s a small number compared to previous years when I could read almost 100, but for now I think it’s a good number.
Good luck with your goals, I’m having a low goodreads goal this year just for less pressure. I also generally just want to read more of the books I buy rather than hoarding up more than I can ever hope to finish.
Great goals, Amber! I’m really late to this post, but het, it’s still 2019!
Ahhh, your goals are what I am trying to break out to too! Which book are you planning on hosting a readathon for? Might keep my eye out for that! Best of luck in achieving these Amber!
Good luck with your goals :). I really want to try and review my 2019 reads too.
Daniella x
Thanks! Good luck to you as well!