Thursday, January 4, 2018

Some 2018 Intentions (reading and otherwise)

Last year, I didn't really set any year-long reading goals for myself. I was so overwhelmed with finishing my degree and the uncertainty that comes along with that, that I couldn't even picture a month into the future, much less a whole year. Over the past week or so, I've been thinking about whether or not to set 2018 goals, reading and otherwise. I started out by saying no I wasn't going to, yet here I am writing this post. My Type-A personality is once again victorious.

Instead of big, lofty goals, I'm going to throw out a few intentions for this year. I have no idea where I will be for most of the year, as this summer I will be interviewing for actual teaching jobs and then tackling my first year of teaching, which is notoriously difficult, but that's okay. These are just some things that I intend to do, or devote some time attempting to do this year.

In 2018 I want to...
  • Read the books I already own. This one is on every year's list, but I never really feel like I make any progress. I buy more books in a year than I read from my existing TBR, and that's fine really. I'm not going to attempt to directly change the number of books I buy in a year, I just want to try and read from my own shelves more. 

  • Read more authors from my Women's Writers List. I made this list a very long time ago, and I would love to revamp it and continue completing it. I've really taken a step back from reading classics this year, as I have been finished with my college literature courses, but I want to get back into them, and classics by women is my area of interest. I'll be revamping this list and posting about it in the near future.  

  • Keep posting. It seems like every time I have been in a good blogging flow in the past two years, some major life thing (usually school) disrupts it and then I loose the flow. It's frustrating to see something you spend a lot of time working on gain in views and reads, only to loose that momentum because of outside forces. Blogging has never been about the views for me, I just love having a place to write about what I read, and I appreciate it even more now that I am out of school and have lost that avenue for discussing literature. I want to keep writing about what I read regardless of how busy I get this year or the numbers. I really love having this record of my relationship with literature. 

  • Continue to declutter my life. Ever since moving out, and then back in my parents, my life has been overflowing with stuff. I moved an apartment's worth of stuff back in my childhood room, which was already filled with stuff, and I don't even know what I own anymore. I have been donating like crazy this year, and I want to keep doing that. I need to be honest with myself about what I need and proactive about getting rid of what I don't. 
I am thinking I will make smaller goals throughout the year as well, but for now, these are the things I want to focus my time and energy on this year. I would love to hear what your intentions for the new year are or your thoughts on New Year in general! Happy Reading! 

2 comments:

  1. I also need to work on that last thing. My first car was a lemon (thanks, Mom, for blowing half of my savings from my internship!) and it is packed with crap I moved out of my dorm when I was a freshman. I have stuff everywhere because I've moved so many times. Some things moved back into my parents' house, some things in their storage unit, some things in boxes at The Man's.. In essence, crap is EVERYwhere! I literally don't know what I own anymore or where things are exactly. I did donate a large number of things this year.

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    1. I know how you feel! It's super stressful to feel scattered all the time. I've always had a good handle on my book organization, but now I don't know what I own (or how much) because I have literally squeezed books into any empty space I could find! Here's to hoping we can get it together this year!

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