Top Ten Tuesday #31: 2014 Resolutions

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created by The Broke and The Bookish. Each week the girls at B&B think up a fun theme, and participating bloggers post their favorite 10 books in that category. This week's theme is

Top Ten Goals/Resolutions of 2014 
Every year, millions of people all over the world start fresh with the new year. Many vow to give up certain bad habits and others promise to start the good ones. Usually these have something to do with health or love or work. Well, this year, I actually don't have many of those resolutions for once because I made all my 2014 resolutions of the bookish sort with the exception of #9 with is bookish PLUS health. Included in these resolutions but not explicitly stated because I did all that yesterday are my many reading challenges. Whew! It's gonna be a busy year!

1. Post more reviews. At least a couple a week. I'm a reviewer so I should definitely be posting reviews weekly. Duh. I've gotten better as the months have gone on, but I'm definitely where I should be yet.

2. This goes with #1, but I also need to create a backlist of reviews for when things get busy in RL, and I can't come up with new reviews and other content.

3. Read 150 books. 150 is my golden number. I hit it in 2012 and 2013. Clearly, it's easy for me to reach, but it's low enough that I know if life gets rough at any point, it's still a reachable goal.

4. Reread 20 books. Rereading is HARD when there are new books constantly paraded in front of me, but I want to make sure I still have time to get to old favorites and refresh my memory of series read long ago. In case you're wondering, these books include Shadow & Bone, Siege & Storm, Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Days of Blood & Starlight, Eleanor & Park, Boycotts & Barflies (man, ALL of these have & in them!), Fangirl, The Hunger Games trilogy, and many more.

5. Listen to 20 audiobooks. This definitely goes with #4 as I only listen to audiobooks that I've previously read. This is in case I zone out while driving and miss a scene. If I've already read a book, missing a scene isn't as big a deal. But if I haven't read the book before, and I miss a scene, I'm gonna spend the next 10 minutes skipping backward (but not TOO far back, of course) to find right whe---OH LOOK I JUST WRECKED MY CAR. Hence only rereading.

6. Read 5 classics. After reading approximately one billion classics in high school and college, I've left these geezers in the dust in the past few years. However, there are many I've wanted to read for a long time, and I should at least attempt to broaden my horizons again.

7. Blog redesign. I've been wanting to do a redesign for a while, and I have my eye on a designer. My problem is that right when I figured out what I wanted and who I wanted to do it...my expenses increased. So I'm saving up! It's gonna happen!

8. Make more blogger friends. That's right. I want to find more awesome book blogs out there and comment on them and make friends and be awesome together. When I started my blog, I had no idea that the blogger community was so tight. I thought it was more like I'm over doing my thing, you're over there doing you, and never the twain shall meet. NOT TRUE. Bloggers have saved my place in a signing line, bloggers have invited me into the cool group and introduced me to authors, bloggers comment on my blog, bloggers lend me books. My fellow bloggers rock. If you've got a blog, leave me your link so I can come give you some love. :)

9. Get a gym membership and read at the gym. I feel like I don't have time to work out because 80% of my free time is devoted to reading and blogging, and the remaining 20% goes to family and friends. I've brought physical books to the gym before, but now that I have a tablet, reading will be easier, and gym time will be a good way to cut down on all the digital books I'm supposed to review.

10.  BE. MORE. ORGANIZED. This goes for so many things: my posts, my email (I juggle FOUR on a regular basis), my reviews, my goodreads shelves, my books, my life. In the past month alone, I've misplaced at least 4 different giveaway prizes because I put them "somewhere safe" and either forgot where that was or I moved it out of that "safe place" because it was in my way. Don't let that frighten you; I've found all of them!

Those are my top ten blogger resolutions for 2014. What's on your list? Leave me links to your TTT!

9 comments:

  1. I'm so jealous that you read 150 books per year!! I wish I could read that fast :( My goal for 2014 is 80... but I would LOVE to read at least 100 and 150 would be like a dream. Blog redesigns are so exciting. I had mine done last year and it made me so happy. I can't wait to see what you do with yours. And I also want to have more blogging friends... and since I'm going to BEA this year I hope that I can actually meet some of my blogging friends IRL!

    My TTT

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  2. Good luck with all of your goals!! I read at the gym all the time. I used to just sit at the pool while my son was at swim practice, but now I kill 2 birds with 1 stone. I have been working out and reading. This is easy to do on the bike or the elliptical, but not on the treadmill. I load audio books onto my iPod to listed to while on the treadmill, erg, etc.

    Here is my TTT: http://jacquesbooknook.blogspot.com/2014/01/top-ten-tuesday-bookish-goals-for-2014.html

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  3. Good luck with your goal of 150 books! I tried to get to 100 last year and failed epically. I'm trying again with 100 this year. Hopefully I have better luck. :)

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  4. I love the idea of reading at the gym. I've just read/listened to my first audiobook, and I think if I can work it into my schedule, having an amazing audiobook to listen to on the treadmill may finally get me moving! Good luck with your resolutions -- great list!

    Lisa
    My TTT

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  5. Fallon Vaughn - joefallon1@yahoo.com

    Mary i am with you on the organization. I am in school fulltime and have the goal of 200 books. Lol plus take good care of my amazing kids.

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  6. Ooo, 150 is definitely attainable for you, it seems! I hit about 180 a year, but I always set my goal to 180. College has slowed things down for me, so we'll see. I love the gym goal - I don't read while I'm at the gym, but that's an interesting idea. I'm all about organization, especially when it comes to my blog. Maybe think about a blog calendar and/or schedule!

    Good luck, Mary!

    Alyssa @ The Eater of Books!

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  7. My goal is to read 100 books this year!

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  8. Great list! I seriously share so many items. I really really need to start my blog, ugh. I'm so behind on everything! Good luck to all!

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  9. 150 books is huge! That is amazing! I've resolved to read 50 books this year.

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