Finally! I know, it's already February and I'm just posting my resolutions. That's because I'm just really bad about planning ahead, okay? :D Anyway, here we go!
1. Actually have posts scheduled ahead of time. This is a really big one for me because this past year I tried and failed. And then I got super behind on everything. Another reason, I collect notes on books and then they never get reviews written! Which is how I got so behind on my Goodreads yearly goal. That's all going to change this year!
2. Do more discussion posts. I really like writing these but somehow they fell by the wayside in the last 6 months of last year. I really hope that I'll be able to do at least one discussion post per month. Excluding January, of course! Because, you know, me and my procrastination.
3. Not allow myself to read another book until I write a review for the one I just read. For the life of me I can't remember who gave me this tip but it's one of the best pieces of advice ever in terms of my personality. This will really help me whittle down my 'review' pile and keep it under control.
4. Catch up on all R&R books before February 29th. This is the one resolution that I WILL NOT FAIL ON! My R&R pile has gotten so bad and I feel horrible for authors that I've kept waiting when I told them 3 months at most. So I'm going to fix that and not fall into that hole in the future with my next resolution.
5. Have a maximum of 4 R&R books per month. I'm really bad about simply accepted pretty much all of the review requests that turn up in my inbox and while I love to help as many authors as possible, it isn't really viable if I want to keep a schedule. So, if I'm going to keep accepting all of them, I'm going to schedule when I'm going to read all of these books so I can give authors an accurate estimate of when I'll have a review up.
6. Interact with more bloggers and bookish people in general! I did pretty well in 2015 in terms of commenting on people's blogs but I'd like to discover more blogs this year and maintain friendships I've made!
There you have it! I'd also like to talk about the things that I'm going to be doing to keep all of these resolutions.
1. Keep spreadsheets. I've already made these spreadsheets (if you were wondering what I was doing in January, here it is). I have a total of three: one for new releases of the year, one for R&R books and one for statistics. I've recently discovered the awesomeness of spreadsheets in a book blogger's life and am loving the organization! I'll actually be able to provide monthly wrap-up posts this year!
2. Schedule R&R books. Like I've already mentioned, I'm going to start scheduling R&R books so I can get reviews up in a timely manner. I'm also going to use this technique to finish up the R&R books I already have so I can open up requests again ASAP. So that means this month is definitely going to be busy! I'm reading Little Women in the group read-along, participating in a buddy read for 2 weeks for Pivot Point and Split Second, reading 2 R&R books a week, as well as one library book a week. Still, that only translates to about 4 books a week which is pretty manageable the way I read books. Here goes nothing!
3. Dedicate one hour every week day to visiting blogs and 3 hours over the course of the weekend to comment. I really want to separate post-writing time vs. blog visiting time so this is my strategy!
That's all for today! What are some of your resolutions?
These sound like great resolutions! Good luck with your goals! :D
ReplyDeleteThese are great goals! I had a 2015 New Year's Resolution post I failed about 90% of, so I decided to keep my goals pretty simple this year (more diverse authors/protagonists, read more of my TBR that isn't recently bought, buy less books [errr... that isn't going too well, so far, but...]). I think with your ideas to keep you in check (spreadsheets, etc.), you should be much more successful than I am!
ReplyDelete~Litha Nelle
Thanks, Litha! Haha yeah that's what happened to me last year too (except I didn't even do a post because I was super lazy). I'm with you on the TBR goal - my TBR has grown out of control and I really need to get to the older books on that list. We shall see!
DeleteYES to 1, 2, 3, 4,and 6! But most importantly #4 because I've literally put off NetGalley and R&R books for monthss and I feel so, so, so bad about it. Another one of my goals is to redesign the blog (but I'm not sure if I'll do it this time because, honestly, I think I kinda suck at it). I don't know, I just want a brighter and more professional design.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with all these! :)
Oh my gosh RIGHT?! All the books look so great when you request them and then they all just sit there while you read other books! Oooooh that's what I was forgetting (I knew I was forgetting something when I wrote this). That's also one of my goals for 2016 - to redesign the blog. I've had the same layout since I started in 2014 (with a slight change in header) so I think it's time for a change. Good luck with your designing and all your other goals!
DeleteGood luck with your resolutions this year!!
ReplyDeleteThank you! You too :)
DeleteAwesome goals!! Good luck! (I love the spreadsheets - wish I was on top of stuff enough for that)
ReplyDeleteEmily @ Follow the Yellow Book Road
Thanks, Emily! Hopefully this year I'll be more successful :) I just read a bunch of posts by bloggers who are trying them out this year or they were explaining how they keep track of their stats and it seemed like such a great idea! I already feel more organized.
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