My 2018 Reading Goals!

Happy New Year! It’s finally 2018 and that means a new reading year! Not only that, it also means that I get to set a whole new list of goals for myself. I truly am the worst with goals and usually end up giving up on them after the first month, but I’m going to push myself to keep these ones! They aren’t overly difficult, but give me something to aim towards throughout the year. Let’s get started!

#1 – READ 50 BOOKS: Don’t tell me that you didn’t expect a goal for how many books I plan to me. Once again, I will be participating in the Goodreads reading challenge. However, rather than having a goal of 60 books, I have pushed it down 10 books. I already know that January (YES, ONLY JANUARY) will be extremely busy with upcoming exams and basketball, so I don’t want to push my goal too much. I don’t even know what to expect from the rest of the year, but I know I can achieve this goal if I keep up a steady reading schedule of 4 – 5 books a month.

#2 – SAVE MONEY BY NOT BUYING ANY AS MANY BOOKS: I was so guilty of spending so much money on books last year. Some months I wouldn’t even be able to buy any new clothes because I spent my money on books. Something a lot of you may not know about me is that I can be quite the shopaholic. Literally I should make an appearance in a Sophie Kinsella book. But, I love buying new clothes, makeup, skin care products and of course books! So to be able to afford everything else I want to spend my money on, I’m going to cut back on how many books I buy.

#3 – TRY TO CUT DOWN MY PHYSICAL TBR: I think this is probably on every book nerd’s list of goals for 2018. I currently have approximately 18 books on my physical TBR, which is a doable number to cut down. But, this doesn’t count any of my unread classics/adult books. However, I’m planning on starting the year with a few re-reads, so this goal is FOR SURE going to take at least half the year. Maybe I will even make a post about my physical TBR later this month. Let me know if you would like to see it!

#4 – READ MORE CLASSICS AND/OR BOOKS I WOULDN’T NORMALLY REACH FOR: I am guilty of only having read half of a classic in my life. That was back in 2016 when I took Wuthering Heights out of my elementary school’s library and ran out of time to finish it. The only other classic I have ever picked up is Of Mice and Men for a school essay. I just couldn’t bring myself to read it as I had trouble keeping my eyes open while reading it. So, maybe 2018 will be the year that I finally start reading some Austen, Bronte and Shakespeare. I would also really like to explore more genres that I usually don’t reach for such as non-fiction, poetry, NA and adult books.

#5 – READ AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE: Finding enough free time to sit down for a few hours and read has been getting harder and harder this school year. I already know that January will be a challenge with 7 am basketball practices, after school basketball games, and weekend tournaments. Adding on homework, long school days and upcoming exams, I have a full schedule. The few months after shouldn’t be too bad, summer will be fully free but then we start school again in September and lose all of my beloved free-time. But I will make it work! At least they give us weekends off haha.

#1 – TRY TO POST AT LEAST 3 TIMES A WEEK: I feel like I am never satisfied unless I put up posts for half the week. My goal is to usually post a review, Top 5 Wednesday, Teaser Tuesday and a tag post. But some weeks I’m just not in the mood to write up some of them. So, posting at least 3 times a week sounds like a reasonable amount to post. And, it’s enough that I can write it all up on a weekend if I know I won’t have enough free time to do it during the week.

#2 – HIT 400 FOLLOWERS: Yup, you read that right. 4-0-0. Four hundred. A lot of bloggers wouldn’t think about it as a lot, but it’s just over two hundred more than what I am starting 2018 with. It’s a lot to gain in one year, but I think that I might be able to do it!

#3 – REQUEST REVIEW COPIES/ARCS: Now, this is something that I have only ever done a few times. It’s a little scary to send these emails, even for a book blogger. But, it is always great to find a package on your doorstep of unpublished books! And with the limited amount of book buying I plan to do, it might be helpful to request a few extra books to review!

And I think that might be it for all of my goals! If any of you set any similar goals, please be sure to share them in the comments. I would love to know what you all planned for your 2018 reading year and possibly take on some of my goals with some fellow bloggers. Also, don’t forget to like this post and follow my blog to stay up to date with all of my future posts!

Happy Reading,
Alaina