Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish and is now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week a new theme is suggested for bloggers to participate in. This week’s prompt is Bookish Discoveries of 2019, but since I’m fairly new to the blogging world, I’m a bit overwhelmed with new bookish discoveries at the moment. 😉 I haven’t officially laid out my goals for 2020, so that’s what I decided to go with. It’ll be nice to follow-up with this list at the end of the year and see what goals I stuck to!
1
It’s all about ARCs!
One of my very top goals for 2020 is to get my ARC (Advance Reader Copies) situation under control. Ever since I started using Netgalley about three years ago, I’ve felt like ARCs are dominating my reading life. And I’m not satisfied with it anymore. I have so many wonderful existing books on my shelves, but have to ignore them because of the ARCs I’ve requested. While I love ARCs, and it’s such a privilege to get them, I’m learning to be more selective. I currently have 8 outstanding ARCs on Netgalley and 1 in print, and I’m happy I can finally say they are all ones I’m very excited about.
2
Clean up my TBR shelf!
I try to go through my ‘Want to Read’ shelf on Goodreads every year and delete any books I’m no longer interested in. I’ve been working on this the past few days. My ‘Want to Read’ shelf was at almost 1000 books! Which seems absolutely ridiculous. So I worked my way through it, and it currently stands at 856. Which doesn’t seem much better, but I like books, okay. 😉 The best outcome was that about twenty of those were physical books I was able to remove off my shelves. I’m still planning on physically going through my shelves because sometimes I need to actually touch the books to know whether or not I want to keep them.
3
Don’t be afraid to DNF!
I did manage to mark two books as DNF (Did Not Finish) in 2019, but I would love to be more proactive about this and only read books that I’m enjoying. It’s hard for me to let go of the guilt and move on.
4
Post at least 2 times a week!
I’m very new to the blogging world. I started this blog in September of 2019, but I’m determined not to do too much too fast, which is one of the top pieces of advice I’ve seen experienced bloggers give. So while I really want–and hope–to post more, I’m only going to set a goal of twice per week.
5
Bookstagram!
While I’m new to blogging, I’m not as new to Bookstagram. (<–Follow me and let me know in the comments so I can follow you back!) I’ve been posting for several years, but starting the blog has drastically reduced my Bookstagram posts, which I’m not happy about. I love and miss Bookstagram, but I haven’t figured out how to streamline blogging and Instagram to make them work together. I would love any tips from experienced bloggers on this issue!
6
Reread More!
I was surprised to discover I only reread four books last year. Four! I love to reread, and that low number disappointed me. I’m determined to reread more in 2020! Maybe even The Lunar Chronicles…
7
Complete 2020 Reading Challenges!
This will be my third year to participate in the Popsugar Reading Challenge! I’ve also set a reading goal of 80 books on Goodreads. For the last nine years I’ve managed to read anywhere from 75 to 106 books, so 80 should be manageable. I stopped setting my goal at 100 to allow me time to write in the month of November for Nanowrimo.
Here are my previous posts about the Popsugar Reading Challenge:
I Finished My 2019 Popsugar Reading Challenge!
My Popsugar Reading Challenge for 2020
8
Create and Keep a Reading Planner!
I received the Owlcrate Reading Planner in December and I’m hoping to keep up with it. As I get older and read more and more books, I’m discovering that books don’t stick with me anymore. When I look back at books I’ve read, I’m surprised at how many books I remember very little about. It helps me remember them if I manually write out some notes about each book. I’m hoping it will also help keep my ARCs organized, as well as my blog posts. I’ll be interested to see how well I keep up with the planner by the end of the year.
9
Track Bookish and Blog Stats!
I recently came across an amazing spreadsheet created to track bookish and blog stats provided by Kal @ Reader Voracious and I couldn’t resist plugging in all my books for 2019. Here’s my 2019 Reading Stats and Survey post which I created using the spreadsheet. I’m planning on using the 2020 spreadsheet to track all my stats for this year.
10
Read books by Leigh Bardugo & Madeline Miller!
It wouldn’t be a bookish goal list without books, right?? I’ve been wanting to read Leigh Bardugo’s books for years. I own Shadow and Bone, Siege and Storm, and Six of Crows, so I have plenty to get me started. I also fully intended to read The Song of Achilles and Circe last year, and I own both of those as well. I want to know what all the hype is about, and 2020 is the year it will happen!
Do we share any goals? Do you have any words of advice for me?? Let me know in the comments!
Happy Wandering!
I loved CIRCE, too. I should look for Miller’s other books. I’m off the board this week with my favorites of the decade
I’ve heard only great things about both of them!
I accomplished the TBR cleanup last year and it felt great. It’s a lot easier for me to navigate around my TBR list after removing the books that have been there for years and likely will never be read thanks to me losing interest in them. And I agree with the DNF one. Nothing wrong when you DNF a book! Better to do it than forcing yourself to finish a book knowing you’ve already lost your enjoyment and you feel like you’re wasting your time. Let’s focus that remaining energy to moving on to other books instead this 2020 ✨ I hope you get to achieve these goals!! *cheers you on*
Okay I just realized I posted this as a reply and not as a comment. I’m so sorry for this ;;;;
No worries! ❤️
I only wish I could have cleared out more. I may do a second sweep. ? Thank you for the encouraging words!! ❤️
Great goals! I’m planning to read those two authors this year as well.
Yay! I’m glad I’m not the only one who’s behind. 😉
Those are great goals for 2020. I, myself, have not shared my 2020 reading goals. I might do that despite it being already 2 week into 2020. But I have a few reading goals worth sharing. I am now interested to join the PopSugar reading challenge but we’ll see. Anyway, I hope you achieve your goals and have a great reading year.
Go for it! It’s never too late to make goals. I love Popsugar. It helps me tackle my tbr. Thanks for sharing!
I know what you mean about ARCs. I tried to start curbtailing it last year for the same reason! A lot of great blogging goals here, good luck! (Also, your header is SO cute!)
Thank you so much! And my daughter made my header. I think she’s pretty creative. 😉 You can find her on Instagram as @abcole_ <3
https://www.instagram.com/abcole_/
I read my first Leigh Bardugo novel last year… although I read one or two short stories of hers in 2018. Madeline Miller was a new-to-me author last year too… although Circe was just okay for me.
I hope you get to most of your goals this year!
I think you may be the first person I’ve heard say they didn’t love Circe. 😉 I’m hoping I enjoy them all, but I’ve been disappointed by over-hyped books before. I’m trying to prepare myself for either outcome. ❤️
Really nice, and thanks for the tip about that spreadsheet. It is truly amazing!
Isn’t it?? Thank you for stopping by!
I’ve tweaked it a bit for myself already, but I don’t understand what she means by “series” or what “retail” means… Nevermind! I also wish I could change the genres drop-down menus so you can choose more than one genre or add sub-genres. Not sure how she did those bits. I’m good at excel, but no expert!
I’m with you on catching up with NetGalley reads and clearing out my TO Read shelf on Goodreads. That’s well overdue! I always have a notebook handy to scribble thoughts as I’m reading. Whether I can decipher them later is another matter! Good luck with your 2020 goals.
My TTT https://whatcathyreadnext.wordpress.com/2020/01/14/toptentuesday-bookish-discoveries-in-2019/
It’s a great feeling afterward, although hard in the moment. ?
Good luck with your goals. They’re good ones. 🙂
My TTT .
Thanks Lydia!
I love your goals, especially reading Leigh Bardugo and Madeline Miller (I adore both 😉 ). Good luck with all of these!
Oh yay! I’m happy to hear that! ❤️
I need to clean out my to read shelf as well. I did more rereading last year than I did in previous years it was such an enjoyable experience. Definitely want to continue this in 2020. Wishing you lots of luck with your goals!
Yes, I miss rereading so much. You’re encouraging me to stick to my goal to do it! ❤️
Welcome to blogging! What a great list you have! I totally agree with you on the ARC situation, it’s a wonderful gift to receive any but you do have to be careful to not let it take over!
Here’s my Top Ten Tuesday
Thank you!! Yes, that’s what I’m learning. The ARCs have a tendency to take over. 😉
I’m taking part in the Popsugar Reading Challenge this year too. Good luck!
Lauren @ Always Me
Oh yay!! I think it’s so much fun. I love a good hunt for the perfect book. 😉
Good luck to you too!
I went through #s 1,2 & 3 in the last couple of years. At the end of 2018, I just felt done with so many ARCs. I’ve really narrowed it down the number I request/accept over the past year. I try to keep it to books I would read anyways. That helped with my TBR as well as going through and taking books off that I didn’t think I wanted to read anymore. I think I went from like 700 to 250 that first year. Then, I took it down even more by focusing on the books on it (instead of ARCs) and going back through and taking off books I didn’t want to read. I also let myself DNF books a lot more. All of that helped. I think you will be able to get all of that under control faster than you think. 😉
Thank you so much for the words of encouragement! I’m so impressed you dropped your tbr so much. I know I’ll feel so much better if I get things to a more manageable number. 😉
I enjoy your spin to this week’s prompt! I am soooo feeling you with the ARCs thing. I really need to work on getting my ARC number down this year and reading some of my backlist books. Of course … I need to STOP requesting ARCs, also, and I seem to have a hard time with that …
80 books sounds like a good goal! It’s important to have lots of free time in November if you do NaNo, so that’s smart. I never actually did that, because I’m silly, and I don’t recommend it lol. Probably why I failed NaNo a lot. 😛
I definitely need to read Circe and Song of Achilles this year, too! And probably also Crooked Kingdom, since I read Six of Crows at the end of last year. You’ve got some great goals for 2020! Best of luck in reaching them.
Yeah, not actually requesting ARCs would probably help, right? I’m trying so hard to stay off Netgalley for at least a month or so. 😉
You mean I’m not the only one who hasn’t read Circe and Song of Achilles?? 🙂
Thank you so much for stopping by!
Good luck! I want to get better at bookstagram, but I can never seem to find the time.
Yes, there’s never enough time for everything. ❤️
What a lovely post and an enjoyment to read. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you so much for the kind words and for visiting! <3
I stopped using Netgalley it was too dangerous lol
I completely understand! I’m hoping I don’t have to go to that extreme. I’ll use this year to test my self-control. 😉
Great list! I love Madeline Miller and Leigh Bardugo – I hope you enjoy reading them! – and getting on top of my ARCs is something I want to do in 2020, too. I made a start in 2019, but I really want to get to that 80% feedback ratio on NetGalley this year. Best of luck with all of your goals!
Thank you so much! And good luck to you too. 🙂
Last year I proclaimed it to be The Year of the Abandoned Book – giving myself total permission to abandon anything I’m not excited about. It changed my reading life. I hope you embrace it this year and find it to be helpful!
That’s so encouraging! I’m determined to not read anything I’m not enjoying this year. Thank you so much for sharing!
Oh I have been ruthless with respect to DNF-ing last year, but I also want to try more books outside my comfort zone, so I have to figure out to recognise it’s time to DNF and not just DNF-ing bc it’s something too new for me.
… I hope that makes sense!
Yes, it does! It is hard sometimes to know if it’s the story I’m not enjoying or just the fact that it’s something out of my comfort zone. That is probably one of the reasons I don’t DNF very often. It’s hard to find that balance! Thank you. for sharing. <3
Good luck with your goals!?
Thank you so much!
I’m 100% with you! 2020 is the year I DNF freely and clear up my outstanding ARCs!
Yay!! Let’s do this! 🙂
That’s a gorgeous picture of Circe! I need to know where it was taken. 🙂 I hope you enjoy it and Song of Achilles too — I loved them both. You have some great items on your list! Being comfortable with DNFing and remembering to not only read ARCs were both things that took me a while to get to, but are really important to my happiness as a reader. Good luck with your 2020 goals!
It was taken while we were on vacation in Taos, New Mexico. Which I now realize proves I was determined to read Circe last year if I took it on vacation. 😉 It was our second trip there, and we love it! And thank you so much for the encouraging words. I know it may take some time, but I’m hoping by the end of 2020 I’ll have a grasp on ARCs and DNFing!
We share several of the same goals. Good luck with them all!!
It’s nice to know I’m not alone in my struggles. 🙂 Good luck to you too!
I wish I could keep a reading planner…somehow my plans to always fall apart. I don’t think I’m really a planner person. ARCs are amazing though!
This will be my first attempt at a planner so I’m not even sure if I’m a planner person. I guess I’ll find out. 😉 I love ARCs as long as they are books I would have read anyway. I’ve just spent too much time on books I never would have picked up but I felt too guilty not to read. Thanks for sharing!
These are all great goals and I wish you luck with all of them. I’ve gotten pickier with my arc requests, too, but I tend to get a lot I don’t request. So it looks a bit bad at times.
Yeah, those are the ones I feel bad about. But at least with the physical ones, I can pass them on to someone who does want to read them, I guess. 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
I really need to clean up my Goodreads ‘Want to Read’ shelf too. It’s out of control and I’m sure there are dozens of books on it that I’m no longer interested in. Best of luck to you on all of these goals!
It was a good feeling to clear some old ones off! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Love all these goals. It is very easy to feel overwhelmed by arcs. It happened to me last year so in 2020 I’m trying to be better about it.
Yes, I hope I can stay on top of it. I’m trying to ask myself if it’s a book I’d read without getting an arc before I request it. 🙂
This is a great list of goals, and I love that you explain what ARC means! That was one of the phrases which confused me in the beginning. Two posts a week is pretty good, I barely manage once a week. Good luck with it all!
Thank you! I try to remember to explain the shortcut terms because I remember being confused by them too in the beginning, but sometimes I do forget. 😉 Yeah, if I can manage two posts a week, I’ll be doing really well. Thank you for stopping by!
I love your photos! And good luck with your 2020 goals! <3
Thank you so much!
Good luck with your 2020 reading/book goals! To not be afraid to DNF is one of my goals for this year, too. 🙂
It’s encouraging to know so many other readers struggle with DNFing! Thank you for stopping by. 🙂
These are excellent goals. NetGalley is still my downfall – I hover at around 80%, but gosh I wish I only owed 8 reviews 😉 I’m in awe of people who balance blogging and bookstagramming (actually, maybe I’m just in awe of bookstagramming: I intermittently take photos, but I find it way harder than blogging) – I hope 2020 is the year you find the right balance for you.
I have a 89% rating, but that only happened after I cleared out several books that had been sitting unread for a long time. It’s so easy to hit that request button when I’m browsing in the wee hours of the night, but then when I suddenly get approved for most of them, I end up having requestor’s remorse. 😉 I’m the opposite–probably because I did Bookstagram before blogging. I just did a major clearing of people I follow on Instagram, so that has helped a lot. I went from following 1000 to 300, which is so much more manageable.
Happy Reading!
Love all your goals!
Thank you! <3