2019 reading & blogging goals


January is a time of new beginnings; a chance to start the year fresh and in the way that you want it to continue. For me, 2019 is going to be a year of change. And this year, I've actually set myself some New Year's Resolutions.

I always enjoy reading about others' goals for the New Year but have avoided making them myself in the past. I put a lot of pressure on myself to complete any goals I set (no matter how lofty), and when I inevitably don't, the feelings of bitter disappointment and failure are discouraging, to say the least. 

But this year will be different. 

This year, I've set myself achievable goals. Goals with specific monthly and/or weekly targets that are less intimidating and that I can realistically complete. Today I'm sharing my five goals for my reading and blogging life in 2019. 

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1. Read 52 books

Even though I read 101 books in 2018 and would love to top that in 2019, I'm anticipating that I will have less time to read this year due to changes in my personal and work life. Accordingly, I've set my Goodreads Reading Challenge to 52 books – this equates to one book per week and I think this is a realistic and achievable goal for me. 


2. Read 24 books I already own

Since I discovered the book blogging community, I've accumulated A LOT of books that I haven't yet had the chance to read. 68 of them, in fact, and I'd like to reduce this significantly. But rather than simply saying I'd like to "read more owned books", I've set myself a definitive goal to read at least 24 of the books that are already on my shelves. That's two per month and again, I think this is achievable. 


3. Finish 3 series I already own

Some of the unread books I own are actually entire series, oops. So, following on from my first two goals, this year I'm challenging myself to binge-read three of the series' that I already own:

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Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas


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Chaos Walking by Patrick Ness


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The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

If I complete all three of these series, then I will have read 14 of the 24 owned books that I'm aiming to read this year. 



4. Maintain my current blogging schedule

I currently publish content on this blog twice per week and I'm happy and settled in that routine. However, with the upcoming life changes that I'm anticipating, I'm not sure how much time I will be able to devote to blogging going forwards. My aim is to maintain my current schedule but depending on what happens, I may have to reevaluate this goal in the future. 


5. Be more involved in the blogging community

This is my only goal that isn't associated with a numeric value. It's also the goal that I think will be most challenging for me to sustain (time-wise) on a daily or even weekly basis. Regardless, I'm going to make more of an effort this year to participate in the blogging community. I'm proud of the fact that I always reply to every single comment on my blog posts and I will usually return the favour if you leave a link to your blog (or if it's linked on your Google+/Blogger profile). Even if it takes me a week to do it. 

But I want to do more. I want to discover new book blogs, and if I love them, I'm going to say it! I'm going to be more generous with my likes on Instagram and, overall, just be more openly supportive of other content creators. Because I know how much time and effort we devote to our channels and what a good feeling it is to receive a positive comment or a retweet. 

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I hope that by setting more specific and achievable resolutions, I will have a more positive goal-fulfilling experience in 2019. Also, by sharing these goals with you today, I hope that I will be held more accountable to actually complete them. 

What are some of New Year's Resolutions that you've set yourself for 2019? Are they similar to mine? Let me know in the comments below and let's support each other so that we all achieve our goals this year! 


Niamh, xo.

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