Monday, January 1, 2018

8 Bookish Plans for 2018

Happy New Year readers! I always love the feeling of starting a fresh, new year. I've tried not to go overboard with goals or resolutions, but I still love mulling over my bookish plans for 2018. I've kept things pretty simple, but added the bullet points as reminders to myself of all the various things that can be included within each broader goal. Of all of these, the bullets under #8 are the only one I am considering as real concrete rules for myself because I really need to limit myself in the book buying department this year. I'll share more thoughts on why I'm doing a book budget this year in an upcoming post. Wish me luck!

1. Read more short works
  • short stories
  • novellas
  • essays
  • poetry

2. Read more nonfiction
  • inspirational, reflective, and/or spiritual books
  • parenting books (but only practical, HELPFUL ones)
  • books that teach me something

3. Read from my own shelves
  • my physical books: already owned + new books
  • my Audible library
  • my eBook/eMagazine collection (this is minimal, but I always forget I have them!)

4. Complete my 2018 reading challenges

5. Use my reading journals

6. Book club stuff
  • Attend 4 of my library's book discussion groups
  • Read 1 book/month for the Diverse Books Club + the picture book selections
  • Read my IRL book club books not at the last minute

7. Better Bookish Time Management
  • Spend less time researching, browsing, and shopping for books
  • Better curate my email subscriptions, newsletters, & blogroll
  • Reduce screen-time to free up more reading time

8. Stick to a monthly book budget of $25
  • Can be spent all at once or divided
  • Any unused budget can roll over to the following month
  • Includes:
    • tax and/or shipping on book purchases
    • all books purchased in any format and any genre (cookbooks, picture books, audiobooks -- all of it!)
    • books for my son (exceptions for birthday and Christmas gifts)
    • pre-orders
  • Does not include:
    • books purchased with gift cards, credit card reward points, or ibotta** cash
    • gifts for others
    • books to be donated
Really, my overarching goal is to ENJOY reading, both on my own and with my son. I want to continue to grow and to learn. To become more understanding, compassionate, and empathetic. Books won't make me a better person all on their own, but I hope to read books that inspire and enlighten me and help me on my way. Here's to a great reading year!

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** Ibotta is a nifty rebate app I use a lot for everyday purchases (grocery stores, drugstores, Target, and many more participate!) Use my referral link or enter referral code waeobvm to earn a $10 welcome bonus after joining and completing a rebate.

14 comments:

  1. These are great goals, I always set a limit on new books I can acquire. like to free up my TBR by reading all the books I already have first :-) I think reading more shorter works is a great resolution, there are so many amazing plays out there begging to be read!
    xoxo
    http://gingersnaphattie.blogspot.co.uk

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    1. Thanks! That's pretty much what I hope to do that this year for my TBR :)

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  2. Great goals for the new year, Christine - and what's more is they sound totally attainable!

    Reducing screen time to make more time for reading is something I've been working on for a few months now and I know it isn't always easy, but well worth it!

    Happy reading in 2018!

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    1. Thanks Jade! It definitely takes practice! Sometimes I'm really good about being on my phone less, but then I'll end up on my computer working on something and wonder where the time went! A work in progress for sure :)

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  3. These are great goals! I like your monthly book budget limits, although I'm pretty sure I couldn't follow them. Best of luck to you with that. Your goals sound practical and doable - the best kind! :)

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    1. Thanks Julie! Almost a month in, I'm doing OK so far, but gift cards and such are making it a bit easier than I likely will be the rest of the year... we shall see how I do!

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  4. These seem like great goals! I really like that you're thinking about not just what you read, but how you read and how you get your books.

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  5. ooh I love your goals and how detailed so many of them are! I kind of want to read more nonfic someday but probably won't this year.😂Although I do love memoirs! And just enjoying reading in itself is the BEST goal ever. <3

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    1. Thanks Cait! If it's not for you, that's OK too. Memoirs are some of my favorite nonfiction too.

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  6. These are great goals and wish you the best of luck! I don't read a lot of poetry but last year I read The Princess Saves Herself in This One and although it was heartbreaking it was also hopeful and I loved it. As for nonfiction books, I hope to read more of those this year as well. Last year I read Presenting Buffalo Bill, and learned a lot I never knew about him. It was very interesting. I also read The Soul of an Octopus on audio and that was a great nonfiction book. Good luck with your monthly budget! I think that is a good idea and better than just banning book buying all together.

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    1. Thanks Kay!

      I read The Soul of an Octopus on audio last year too for a library book discussion -- it was interesting! Not a favorite, but it did make for a good discussion.

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  7. Great goals! Very ambitious, but they all sounds reasonable and doable. I've temporarily frozen my Audible account because I have such a backlog of audiobooks to listen to. Maybe this will be the year when I finally catch up!

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    1. Thanks Lisa! It's amazing how that can happen with Audible... it never used to happen to me -- in audio or in print -- but I guess the backlog has a little something to do with hearing about more and more great books all the time :)

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I'd love to hear what you think :)