2018 Reading and Blogging Goals

A few weeks ago, I took a look back at all the reading and blogging goals I aimed to complete in 2017. Today, to go along with Top Ten Tuesday's theme for this week (Bookish Resolutions/Goals), I'm sharing the goals and challenges I am focusing on in 2018. (All but the last two are reading and blogging related.)

Read fewer books.

I didn't find it all that difficult to read 800 books this past year, but there were a few instances where I read through a stack of easy readers or picture books just for the sake of staying on track. In general, I also tend to read quickly and often not very deeply. This year, in the interest of going deeper into what I'm reading, and of having the time to do other things (like writing blog posts and homeschooling my four-year-old), I'm only shooting for 500 books, and I expect a large number of them to be picture books. 

Review more books overall, but fewer books on the blog.

I was originally thinking I would try to post two book reviews per week to the blog in 2018, but then I realized this would put me back on the path to blogging every single day, and I'm trying to avoid going back to that kind of schedule. So instead I am setting a goal to review at least 100 books this year, but to make the majority of those briefer Goodreads reviews and only post here about the ones I feel really deserve a more detailed assessment. I'd like to post four blog reviews per month, give or take. 

Review books in a more timely manner.

I have a habit of reading a ton of books and then not reviewing them for months after the fact. By the time I get around to reviewing them I've often forgotten the details and my reviews are not as strong as a result. This year, I want to get better about reviewing one book before finishing the next. 

Branch out from book reviews.

Last year, I set a goal to write more reflection posts, but I didn't really accomplish it. This year, though, I want to think of some ways to post something other than book reviews and reports about my reading to this blog. I'm hoping reading fewer books will free me up to concentrate a bit more on the blogging side of book blogging.

Post blog posts to Facebook regularly.

Now that I have consolidated my two Facebook pages into one, it should be easier to post regularly, but I haven't been making the time to do it. At the very least, I'd like to post twice a week this year and try to maintain something of a following on Facebook. 

Host a #bookstagram challenge. 

I have wanted to do this for over a year now, but haven't been bold enough to put the challenge together and get it out into the world. I'm not sure yet what the focus will be (other than children's books of some kind), or when it will happen, but I really want to try it at least once. I am not the greatest photographer, but I do enjoy finding books to match different daily prompts, and it doesn't seem like there is always a kidlit-focused challenge each month. 

Complete reading and blogging challenges.

I'm doing more reading challenges this year than I ever have, but I tried to choose challenges that would help me achieve some of my goals, and that I have a reasonable chance of actually finishing. Here's what I picked. (Links are to the challenge sign-up pages. There is a list in the sidebar which links to my landing pages for my progress in each challenge.)

• Old School Kidlit Reading Challenge
  I'm hosting this one for the second year in a row. This year, there are no monthly categories; just set a goal and read old school books! My goal is to read 52, but in light of my goals above I probably won't review every single one.
• Craving for Cozies
  This is the only other challenge I did last year that I'm doing again in 2018. I like that there is a Facebook group for updating progress and that I can easily just send in my Goodreads shelf as proof that I completed the challenge at the end of the year. I also discovered a lot of cozy series last year that I hope to finish for this challenge.
• Cloak and Dagger Challenge 
  Last year, I read a few mysteries (mostly by Sue Grafton and Kathy Reichs) that were not cozy. I wanted to be able to count them for something, so I signed up for this challenge which counts everything in the mystery/thriller genre. 
• Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge
  Because I liked Craving for Cozies so much, I'm joining a second challenge hosted by the same blog. For this one, I'll be trying to read 26 adult books - one for each letter of the alphabet. (This makes me glad I haven't read X by Sue Grafton - that would be a tricky letter for me otherwise!)
• A to Z Reading Challenge
  I had trouble deciding between the two alphabet challenges I came across. Thankfully, this one has an option to focus on children's books so I decided to just join both and focus on kidlit for this one. 
• Family Tree Reading Challenge
  Becky's Book Reviews hosts so many interesting challenges. I didn't want to do another challenge with a very long checklist this time around, so I opted for this one, where the goal is to read books published in the years of family members' births. I chose the birth years of my grandmother, my parents, my sister, my husband, and my three girls, giving me a good mix of new and old options.
• Author Love Challenge
  For this one, I'm planning to read as many Betsy Byars books as I can. I'm excited to finally get to them, as reading her books has been a goal in the back of my mind for a couple of years now. 
• Linz the Bookworm Reading Challenge
  I'm only aiming for level 1 of this challenge, which should give me a nice well-rounded checklist of titles. 
• Library Love Challenge
  I borrow a lot of picture books from the library, but not as many longer works. I'm hoping my goal of reading 36 books borrowed from the library this year will help. (I'm only counting middle grade, YA, and adult novels toward this one.)
• Reading Challenge Addicts
  This is a challenge for people doing multiple challenges. I figured it was worth joining given that I have signed up for so many! 
• Writing Reviews Challenge
  For this one, I'm aiming to write 100 reviews, some to post here and some to post to Goodreads. 
• Blog All About It
  I thought the prompts for this challenge would help me focus a little less on book reviews and more on developing other kinds of content.  
• Book Blog Discussion Challenge
  I've eyed this challenge in the past and felt a little nervous about jumping in, but I'm going to start small and try to post six discussion posts this year, hopefully in the even-numbered months. 

Keep a bullet journal.

From ages 14 to 20, I kept a daily journal. I have always meant to get back into the habit, but there just isn't time in the day to write pages and pages about what goes on. I'm hoping that having a book set up to record daily happenings will give me a way to quickly jot down important events, ideas, memories, etc. so I can look back on them. A bullet journal is also a great place to keep track of reading challenges, blogging ideas, and other important things all in one place.

Stop getting the news from social media. 

Following news outlets on Facebook seemed really convenient when I first started doing it, but I've grown weary of seeing everyone's comments and reactions to the news, especially since they typically involve a lot of name-calling and overall nastiness. This year, I'm going back to reading the news either on Feedly or directly on news sources' websites, so I can find out what is happening in the world without having to read what 100 strangers think about what is happening in the world.