Reading Goals 2018

[bookgazing]

I've shared my 2017 Favourite Books List, and my 2017 Honourable Mentions List. Now let's see how I plan to shape my bookish future in 2018!

2018 Reading Resolutions

• Stick to a 6 month book buying ban - This is the one that has people dropping their jaws all over town but at this point it's really necessary. I don't have the space to keep buying so many books. The money I put into excessive book buying could be going to other useful projects. And titles that I was really excited about are just languishing away in my stacks. Something drastic must be done.
  
  So, I have a couple of pre-orders outstanding, and I'm going to allow myself the occasional proof via work as long as I really intend to review it for work. I can go to the library but I can only bring two books home at a time. Otherwise, it's time to read my own damn books!


• Maintain, or exceed, 2017's goals for reading books by chromatic authors - In 2017, I read 82 books in total (Goodreads is a liar!) and 40 of those were by chromatic authors. My goal for 2017 was to hit absolute parity, and I missed that by two books. However, the fact that I came out of 2017 having read, and enjoyed, a lot of books by chromatic authors means that aiming for parity helped improve my reading. This resolution was also designed to help me recommend much more widely in my role as a bookseller. I definitely feel I can confidently recommend a selection of great books by chromatic authors, across a variety of genres, so I'm pleased with how this resolution worked out.
  
  In 2018, I want to continue to track how many books I reading by chromatic authors, and aim for half (or more) of the books I read to be by chromatic authors.


• Read at least 10 non-fiction titles - Last year I read four non-fiction titles, and this year I want to increase that at least a little. I find non-fiction titles difficult to concentrate on when I'm commuting, and that's where I do a lot of my reading. So, I'm setting this goal low, and budgeting for the fact that Dec and Jan are pretty much reading write-off months for me.


• Read 10 classics - There are SO many unread classics in my house, and it's making me feel stupid :P In all seriousness, I've got a real hankering for classic reads this year (including modern classics) but that's what I say every January so I'll try not to be too harsh on myself if this resolution falls over.


• Read more LGBTQ lit - This is an area of reading that really fell off my radar in 2017. This is also a resolution that should help me to improve as a bookseller, and I know it will lead me to a ton of interesting books (I can already think of lots of books I want to try).


• Investigate a 'New to me' area of literature - This is the reading resolution that's probably most linked to improving at work. I have a pretty good level of overall book knowledge. Even if I haven't read a book on a subject, I've probably read about a book that a customer might like, or I've picked up useful details from colleagues or customers. However, there are definitely still some areas where my knowledge is really lacking. So, in 2018 I'm going to pick one of those areas and try to learn more.
  
  Except, this is me. I get bored really easily if I'm too constrained by resolutions. So, I've already modified this idea a little bit. Originally, I was going to pick just one genre/form. However, now I think I'm going to pick at bits from four areas I originally thought I'd like to learn more about: manga, graphic non-fiction, romance, and poetry. A couple of people have already given me some good access points, but feel free to throw more at me in the comments (must be easily accessible in a UK bookshop otherwise I can't rec them to customers).


• more reviews for Goodreads and the work site - In 2017, I started using Goodreads more, and actually posting reviews there. I also got a bookseller review account for our work site. I started adding reviews of proofs I'd been sent through work, and books I'd enjoyed that didn't yet have much review love. Largely, I review books by women (often chromatic women) over there, and I'd like to continue that trend in 2018.


• Read one short story every week (outside of January and December) - And they can't all just be from Uncanny Magazine! I've bought a Fiyah subscription in order to help out with this resolution. This should also give me plenty to write about in my Short Business posts.

Lady Business Goals
My goals for my involvement in the blog are pretty much just 'contribute regularly' and keep up with joint projects but there are a few individual projects I'd like to keep going or kick-start again:

• Continue with my Star Trek: Discovery recaps - I love doing these, and removing any time pressure from this project has kept me from getting demotivated. I don't care if my recaps are behind the show's episode release dates. I only care that I keep writing and posting them.


• Recap every episode of Dr Who series 11 (the first Jodie Whittaker series) - I'M SO EXCITED FOR THE NEW DOCTOR AND THE NEW SHOWRUNNER! I really want to help boost the excitement for this Dr Who run, and to get involved in the fan community.


• Restart recaps of The Sarah Connor Chronicles - I really liked doing the first two recaps but I just wasn't in the right place to keep up with these last time around. Now, with more less energy-suck things, I'm hoping I can bring them back.


• Contribute to every instance of Our Favourite Media in 2018 - I don't always have something to contribute to the other group posts (although if I do, I want to make time to actually write something for those group posts this year) but I've pretty much always read, or watched something that would fit in this group post.


• Write 10 Short Business roundup posts in 2018 - I liked introducing these at the end of 2017 so I want to keep them going. Again, January and December are amnesty months but otherwise I'll try to keep them going.

That's all of my reading and blog goals for 2018. Stick around to see if I can achieve them. And please share your own goals in the comments!