January 8, 2013

Top Ten Bookish Goals for 2013

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by the bloggers of The Broke and the Bookish. Although this week we're supposed to record our top ten bookish goals, after some consideration I decided that there are eight main goals that I hope to accomplish.
Read at least 65 books this year: That's my official Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge goal. Although, to be honest, I hope to break 85 books. Last year I ended up reading 65 books with a challenge of 45 books, so I'd like to beat that number this year!
Complete DAC & SARC challenges: This is my first year participating in any reading challenges, so I'm super pumped about these two. Right now my goal is to complete them both with the bare minimum reading requirements, although it'll be awesome if I can read more for each.
Intersperse YA books with adult books: Before 2012, I hadn't really read many YA books (except for re-reads) for many years. During college my time was generally limited and my desire to read books outside of classes was not always there. I'm so grateful for finding Goodreads and so many great YA book blogs that have encouraged me to read more and record my thoughts. I would like, however, to continue reading adult fiction as well. Chick lit, adult fantasies, science fiction, classics, and more!
Do not get distracted by all the upcoming releases: I've been pretty good about this so far and I hope to keep it up. Shiny new books are definitely exciting, but I don't want to ignore fantastic older books and books that have been on my TBR list for a while simply because everyone is raving about this new book and I feel like I just have to read it RIGHT NOW. 
Try to do some me writing a couple of days per week: While book blogging has given me the excuse to read a lot and write all about my thoughts, I miss writing for me. I love writing and hope to eventually write something publishable one day. So I need to definitely make more of a concerted effort on my part. 
Keep up with the daily readings from The Intellectual Devotional: For my birthday last September my grandparents gave me a copy of The Intellectual Devotional by David S. Kidder and Noah D. Oppenheim. I love the idea of expanding my knowledge by a little each day, and I don't think it's much of a commitment to spend five minutes reading and considering it each night.
Make more of an effort to interact with other bloggers and authors: I am pretty shy in real life and apparently that translates just as well in my internet life. Besides commenting on posts, I find it difficult to engage bloggers and authors in other ways. Definitely something I need to work on!
Do not be afraid to decide a book is bad, or even to stop reading it: I've never given a dishonest opinion per se, but I do find it difficult to be as open as I sometimes want to be. I think there's a way to graciously explain how/why books just don't work for you as a reader, so I'd like to figure that out. And perhaps not be as afraid to stop a book if I really am not liking it. Too many books, not enough time is very true, after all.
Have any similar goals? Let me know what you bookish goals you resolve to work on in 2013!
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Amanda

Amanda loves few things better than sitting down with a cup of tea and a book. She frequently stays up far too late, telling herself she just needs to finish one more page. When she's not wrapped up in the stories of others, Amanda works as a children's librarian in a public library.

12 comments:

  1. You have some really great goals you are working toward this year!

    I am the same way with new shiny books, I just collect and collect and my TBR pile gets out of control. I too need to work on that.

    This is also my first year doing challenges. Good luck with yours!

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    1. Yay! Thank you! Good luck with your new challenges and goals too! :)

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  2. These are fantastic goals. Not getting distracted by new releases is a big problem of mine! I also have trouble DNF'ing a book, and would like to start doing more of that too. I don't want to spend my time on something that I'm not enjoying. This is also my first year doing some challenges - I'm doing DAC too. I hope you're able to accomplish these and more.

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    1. Thanks, Lauren! I'm so afraid about DNFing a book, but I'm sure I will need to at some point. So it's something I at least want to make sure I realize is a possibility. DAC looks fun. I'll have to see what debut books you plan on reading - suggestions for those books are proving to be a little trickier since they're not yet released. Still need to figure out what I'd like to read!

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  3. Great list! I too hope to change it up with my reading this year and include some adult books in the lineup - we'll see how that goes. Best of luck with your reading in 2013, and thanks for sharing!

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    1. I know! Hopefully well for both of us on the varied genre front. :) Thank you, and good luck to you as well!

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  4. Your last goal is on my list too - I am SO bad about not putting a book down but already this year I've done it once :)

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    1. Yeah I just feel this guilt. But I'm working on it! I just hope I don't know a need to do it too often.

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  5. Since I started reading YA I found it hard to get back to my adult books and a lot of series I started got thrown to the wayside. I hope I can do better at getting back to them and like you, not get distracted by the shiny new books. I want to try to only be distracted by shiny new books by authors I already love, and to continue the series I started. I also want to keep reading at least one indie/self published title a week. Great goals!

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    1. Good point. I do want to keep reading new books by authors I love. It's all a balance I know. Thanks, I hope I can keep to them!

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  6. I live in a state of "distracted by upcoming releases," but good luck to you in that. I keep acquiring more books, but reading newer ones instead. I'm trying to catch some of my backlist, but there's just so much to read all the time. I need a reading superpower.

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    1. haha I feel like every day I'm moving more towards that state. I need to fight it! And a reading superpower would be fantastic. The ability to freeze time while you read or something. Definitely too many books, too little time! Thank you - I'll need some luck, I'm sure! :)

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