Tuesday, January 1, 2013

2013 Reading and Blogging Resolutions and Goals

Happy New Year!  I thought I'd start 2013 off by sharing some of my reading and blogging resolutions and goals for the new year.

Reading Resolutions and Goals

(1) Buy fewer books.  I didn't include this one on my 2012 reading resolutions list because each year I always seem to buy more books than I did the year before.  However, as I really do need to cut down on the number of books I buy, I've decided to bring it back for 2013.   Wish me luck, because I'm going to need it in order to achieve this resolution. 

(2) Read at least 85 books.  I normally set a goal to read 75 books each year, but since I've been consistently achieving this goal in recent years I've decided to increase it to 85.   

(3) Read more books outside of my comfort zone.   I read 91 books in 2012, but only a handful were in genres or settings outside of my usual comfort zone.   I'm going to attempt to change this in 2013, by reading more books in genres I don't normally read (e.g. science fiction, contemporary non-fiction) or that are set in time periods or locations that don't normally interest me. 

Blogging Resolutions and Goals

(1) Post more reviews.  One of my blogging resolutions for 2012 was to post more reviews of novels from outside the historical fiction genre.  While I did post more non-historical fiction reviews in 2012 than I did in 2011, based on the number of comments/page views these reviews received it appears there wasn't much interest in them.   I'm going to keep my resolution to post more reviews, but will continue to focus predominantly on historical fiction since reviews of books within this genre generate the most interest. 

(2) Take part in more blog giveaway hops.  I enjoyed participating in the two blog giveaway hops I took part in during 2012.  Not only did participation in these hops generate more interest in my own blog, but I also found some great new blogs to follow.   I'll be looking to participate in more giveaway hops during 2013, especially if they are focused on historical fiction.

(3) Reply to comments.   I'm generally pretty good at this, but during 2013 I resolve to be more consistent with replying to comments left on my blog.   I will also aim to more consistently visit the blogs of those who leave comments on my posts.

(4) Pick some weekly memes and stick with them.   I've tried a few different weekly memes since I first started blogging, but with the exception of Mailbox Monday, which I participate in frequently, I am pretty inconsistent with my participation.  I've tried Top Ten Tuesday, Waiting on Wednesday and Suddenly Sunday, for example.   My intention for 2013 is to make Mailbox Monday and Suddenly Sunday my two weekly memes of choice, so look for my regular participation in them. 

That's it for me.  Do you have any reading or blogging resolutions/goals for 2013?