New Year, New Goals?

Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash

Happy New Year! 

I'm back! I had both an awful and wonderful break – awful because surgery sucks, wonderful because I allowed myself to read whatever called to me and I enjoyed almost everything I read (there was just one book that didn't thrill me). I'll probably do a lot of mini reviews of what I've read in the coming days, partly because I mostly read books I've purchased -- so no need to do do full reviews unless I feel like it -- and partly so I can move on into 2020 without getting too bogged down by what remains of 2019.

There's a question mark after "New Goals" in the subject line because I've decided this year is going to be one in which I don't write down reading goals, apart from the usual Goodreads goal. I have some things in mind, though, like I want to read more writing by indigenous authors and at least one classic per month. Since I pretty much failed at last year's elaborate list of goals, I'm going to just mentally fold some of 2019's reading goals over into 2020. If I don't manage to read what I hope to, I'm not going to worry about it. 

The same goes for the ARCs I didn't get to after I fell behind and then fell apart (the cancer diagnosis halfway through the year did not help my backlog of ARCs). I'll fold them over into the new year, as well, but I'm not going to stress myself about them. I already do have a few ARCs coming, this year, but if I can't keep up with the new ones I'll shut down acceptance of them completely. I think it's important to keep the burden light, at this point in my life. I'm not done dealing with my illness and won't be for a while, but I do love authors, publishers, and being part of anything that draws attention to wonderful storytelling. So, I'll do what I can cope with and no more. 

In other news, I am currently without a phone because I left my phone in a shop. Fortunately, it's a small shop and they know it's mine. It'll be a few days before I can get back over there because we're expecting heavy rain for the next two days and the store is 30 miles away (I avoid driving in the rain if it's not critical) but that's not entirely a bad thing, having to do without a phone. It does, however, mean that I have no access to photos to upload, here, and I'll have to wait to take photos of any books I finish. So, no Instagramming for me, either. 

First good belly laugh of the year was a couple hours ago when husband opened a can of coffee that was apparently under some pressure, a Christmas gift. It had a key-tab opening for the sealed lid and when he pulled the key tab back, a fountain of finely-ground coffee shot up in the air, coating his shirt, hands, face, the counter, and a little of the floor. It was a mess but it was also hilarious. And, wow, does that coffee smell good. 

I hope Christmas was a good one for you, my friends. Wishes for a safe, happy, healthy, and fulfilling year to all my readers!

©2020 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

2009 Reading and Blogging Goals

I thought Alice with her pack of cards looked like a good image for finding balance, my 2009 self-chosen life theme -- mostly because it looks like Alice needs to work on balance, as well. Look at those crazy animals running away! Aren't they the cutest?

Like most people who've posted their goals, I'm only writing mine down in order hold myself accountable for what I do or do not accomplish in 2009. We'll see whether or not I succeed, but I think it's good to write them down for future reference.

2009 Reading Goals:

1. Read what I love; love what I read - To prevent wasting perfectly good reading (and life) time, I shall be more cautious about accepting books for review and read more from my already-toppling stacks.

2. Permission to not finish - I've already mentioned this one, but I grant myself permission to stop reading a book if it's not capturing my interest.

3. Give away/donate/swap more books - I have too many in my house and the library still doesn't carry a lot of the books I desire to read, unfortunately, but since books have become easier to obtain via swap sites there's no reason to hang onto the books that no longer interest me.

4. Read at least 143 books - Last year's number is always my minimum for the following year. This year I shall attempt to read at least 143 books, preferably more.

5. Read more Christian books - I'm a Christian and I particularly like positive reads -- as well as any upbeat fiction that's clean and lacks graphic sex, violence and bad language. I'll read more Christian fiction and books that I know will be "cleaner" and occasionally more Christian nonfiction (depending upon the topic).

6. Read more classics - I read a few in 2008, but not as many as I'd hoped. At least one per month sounds like decent goal.

7. Read the entire Bible from cover to cover - So far, so good. I've got a Bible that's divided into 365 day's worth of readings and I'm making the daily reading a part of my routine.

I may come back and add to this list, later on.

2009 Blogging Goals:

1. Blog a little less frequently. 2009 is going to be all about finding balance in life, which probably means a bit less blogging and blog-hopping (but I'll still do both!), more exercise and photography, more time spent doing things I used to do like craft projects -- and more purging of possessions, fixing up the house and spending time outdoors. I may choose a couple of days per week to blog, but I haven't reached that point.

2. Finish the Canadian reading challenge and don't sweat the WWII - I still haven't written anything about the WWII challenge because I feel like challenges just make me feel stressed out. I may back out of it, but I still plan to cram in as much Canadian reading as possible, before the Canadian reading challenge ends.

3. No regular features - I'll post a Wahoo! Wednesday post when I feel like it, but I'm not going to apologize if I can't think of anything spectacular to write about. Sunday Pie will also be sporadic. I want my blog to be spontaneous and fun, not a burden. When I began blogging, I wrote about books and whatever else hit me. Back to that.

4. Spend less time editing - I can spend way too much time editing my posts and re-editing and re-editing, again, because I want to eliminate typos and make the spacing perfect. Now, I think I'll just let a typo or two go and move on. It needs to be done.

That's all for now! Up next will be my first DNF of the year, my first giveaway for 2009 and an update on current reads, unless I finish something before I get around to writing about how it's going -- and in that case, I'll just review it. Did that make sense?

Blog at ya later!

Bookfool, working on balance (not the kind with the narrow wooden thing that sits 3' off the ground -- you know, the other kind)