LOOKING BACK ON NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS FROM 2018- SUCCESS OR FAILURE?

Who’s EXCITED for the New Year?! I’ll tell you- I’m very much looking forward to 2019! I’m gonna be brutally honest- 2018 has been a weird year for me. Not looking to get all “it was the best of times it was the worst of times…” but it had its ups and downs. Even with a few knocks though, I’m still standing 😉 (*resisting the urge to burst into song*) I’m gonna fight fight fight fight fight for this blog and all that jazz (resistance is futile)- so let’s see if I can’t kick the butt of some resolutions from 2018:

BOOKISH:

10 MORE BOOKS FROM MY CHALLENGING LIST

 

 

Whoa let’s start with a hard one why don’t we? I didn’t complete this, but I did okay on this one and I’m glad I read what I did read.

8 points

10 NON-FICTION READS

Again, I didn’t make it to 10, but I did alright. Considering this overlaps a lot with #1, it makes sense.

8 points

DELAY PUTTING A GOODREADS CHALLENGE ON

Well I did do this- I only used the challenge in December to get my stats- so ten points to Ravenclaw! In all seriousness, I don’t know how good this resolution was cos I ended up just counting in my head anyway… so yeah, I did it, and it relieved some of the stress that comes with book counting, but not all of it. Whatever, still did it 😉

10 points

5 REREADS

I smashed this with 10 reads! HP x7 and Secret countess, wee free men, shiver

 

 

5 points

TRY AND BE MORE ORGANISED WITH READING PLANS

You know, like have some sort of TBR. It doesn’t have to be official (let’s face it, it won’t be in posts cos *laziness*) still I should at least try to be a bit more organised. Especially since I’ve had a couple of ARCs in particular that I want to read and okay, I’ve been in  a slump for a month, but I still feel bad about it and LET’S GET ON WITH IT already!(Immediately after writing this, I scribbled down a list for January… so can I already count this as a success please?)

 I struck this one off the list in March– so I’m not counting it. Which is good- cos I didn’t keep to TBRs this year.

TRY TO STOP READING BOOKS YOU KNOW YOU WON’T LIKE

Gosh this was a good resolution to do- cos this is a terrible habit! Unfortunately I read a few books I knew I’d hate:

 

 

So that means out of 5 points, I only got…

2 points

NON BOOKISH:

FINISH COMPILING NOTES FROM NOTEBOOKS

 

 

I did this super early in the year that I’ve now got more notebooks to compile lol. Regardless, I’m happy I did this one and I don’t have nearly as much of a backlog as I used to:

10 points

FINISH THAT AWFUL GUITAR FOR DUMMIES BOOK

Yeesh- this. did. not. go. well. To be honest, I don’t think it was the best resolution- if you put “awful” in the resolution, it’s hardly likely you’ll follow through. I also think progress in this area doesn’t really work with chapters. I did actually work on this for four months, however didn’t get far in terms of chapters and had to stop when I went away. I did want to pick this up again- just haven’t had the time! Anyhoo, *excuses excuses*, I’m giving myself a point for those few months of effort.

1 point

MUMBLE BUMBLE SOMETHING ABOUT FRENCH…

Wowee another one that didn’t go well. I think this was also a poorly chosen resolution because HOW DO YOU MEASURE THIS. I did a few things- like reading a book, watching a movie, talking to people- so I’m giving myself a point for each of these (though I’m not sure it’s deserved- this is the problem with not defining what a success would look like!!! Next time I’ll have to pick something I can actually measure).

3 points

And for personal goals (incidentally one of which was not-so-personal and just related to my #supersecretive WIP and I talked about it here)… I actually did all of these- but not necessarily to the best of my ability, so I docked some marks:

27 points

74 points total- which in grading terms works out as a…

Well what do you think? Have I been to generous or too harsh with my grading? And how have you done with your resolutions this year? Let me know in the comments!

Bookish (and Some Non Bookish) Resolutions for 2018

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Literal stock photo 😉

So, like most of the population on New Year’s Day, I’m completely zonked today and basically want to huddle under my duvet until winter stops… which means it’s the perfect time to write some resolutions for 2018!! (cos we all know how well that tends to work out) Warning: it’s almost guaranteed I will forget about these in a month or two, but everyone loves a guilty book blogger, and these are guaranteed to make me nice and red-faced come next December 😉

Bookish:

10 More Books from My Challenging list

Yep, starting off with one that was on my resolutions last year. My list of challenging books is quite long (and always growing) so I can’t include all of them, but here’s a few that are top priority:

How’d this list get so cheery? 😉 No wonder I’ve been avoiding this list like the plague…

Also subheading: FINISH READING MAPS OF MEANING YOU LAZY SCHMOCK! (I read the intro and first chapter back in 2016, it’s getting a bit ridiculous now, no matter how hard it is)

10 Non-Fiction Reads

The great thing about this is a fair number of the books still on my challenging reading list are Non Fiction- so hopefully this’ll be two birds, one stone.

Delay putting a goodreads challenge on

So this is a complicated resolution- but last year I focused wayyy too much on how much I was reading- and a lot of that came from doing the goodreads challenge straightaway in January. Even though 75 was my goal *for the year*, I saw that and thought “challenge accepted” and proceeded to bulldoze towards that goal. To the point where I kept pushing the goal up-and-up-and-up before the end of the year. I wish I’d taken more time with my reading now and been a bit more relaxed in those opening months especially (cos right now I’m really experiencing burnout). That’s why my goal is not to put the challenge on for as long as possible (although I’m not saying to not do it at all, because I know that’ll be an impossibility)- I’ll say I get a pat on the back for every month I manage to have s(h)elf control.

5 Rereads

This goes back to trying to *relax* with my reading more (pahahaha, me? Relax? Good luck with that). I’m not going to push my luck- but I’d like to manage a similar number to last year.

Try and be More Organised with Reading Plans

You know, like have some sort of TBR. It doesn’t have to be official (let’s face it, it won’t be in posts cos *laziness*) still I should at least try to be a bit more organised. Especially since I’ve had a couple of ARCs in particular that I want to read and okay, I’ve been in  a slump for a month, but I still feel bad about it and LET’S GET ON WITH IT already! (Immediately after writing this, I scribbled down a list for January… so can I already count this as a success please?)

Try to Stop Reading Books You Know You Won’t Like

Yes, sometimes I’m guilty of picking up books where I think “this sounds so cliché and awful” annnd then proceed to read it anyway. Obviously you can’t avoid all bad books- yet sometimes I know I’m making a mistake. I just need to step away from the hype and back off from the trashy teen stuff. Hey future self: PUT IT DOWN.

Non Bookish:

Finish compiling notes from notebooks

This one is actually not that hard, considering I’ve done most of the legwork. I’ve basically been compiling notes from my notebooks (on the left is the ones I’ve done), for various different stories (not including WIP) that go back about 10 years. I’m down to the last three (on the right) and they’re only small, so this should be a doddle.

Finish that awful guitar for dummies book

Okay this also = do something about my awful, sporadic practising habits (I have a feeling I’m setting myself up for failure here)

Mumble bumble something about French…

Aka find some new way to practice French instead of just duolingo- which I’ve kinda tailed off with anyway (it’s really boring once you finish the course). Again, this is kinda a fun one- yet also one I will probably fail, cos I have other things I need to do this year… so we’ll see.

I’ve written a couple of personal goals down on this document as well (like get fit) (not actually on the list lol) so I’m aware of them when I go back at the end of the year and publicly shame myself for not doing it 😉

Okay- who else has New Year’s Resolutions you totally plan to not do? Let me know in the comments!