It is co-hosted by (Linda from Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell, Roberta from Offbeat YA, Jen from That’s What I’m Talking About, Berl's from Because Reading is Better than Real Life and me)
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Question: What are your blogging/reading goals for the year?
Answer: Is anyone reading this??? I have not blogged in SIX MONTHS!
I'm not even sure why I'm bothering at this point lol I'm not sure if anyone will visit this post - or if I won't vanish again for another 6 months.
I read 17 books last year and posted 16 times on the blog - not even one of those posts were a review EEK!
Last year was a YEAR. For a lot of reasons - Kevin lost his dad to cancer being one of those things but a lot had been going on. 2025 looks to be rocky as well, with the world and I have some medical tests upcoming but I DO want to try to get back to some type of regular reading and/or blogging. I am not one for resolutions or goals but I am going to try to do some simple things to maybe get me back on track.
1) Read one chapter from a physical book or Kindle and listen one hour to an audiobook - per day.
It doesn't seem like much but my book focus is shot! I do somewhat better with audio because I listen while running errands. But I can't seem to listen while doing anything else so it takes me weeks to finish an audiobook.
My hope is one chapter a day may lead to two - or just get my brain in that reader mode again. If not, one chapter a day will still get a book read, even if it's not very fast.
Oh how the mighty have fallen - I used to easily read one book a day!
2) Blog once a week or even a monthly wrap up if weekly feels like too much.
I have got to find an easier/more spontaneous way to do this. I want to blog but sitting down and formatting pictures/links and all that is not rewarding for me anymore.
I often think to post a picture of what I'm reading or somewhere fun I've been but then I do it on Instagram and figure everyone has already seen it. I don't know...I miss the old days of blogging (Old Lady...I remember in my day when we blogged...lol) and I'm struggling to find a way to do it that's still fun for me. But....I always miss it when I step away for too long.
3) Make 1 recipe from a cookbook I own per week.
Not quite reading - but I probably bought or was given, at least, 20-ish cookbooks last year and I don't think I've made more than 1-2 recipes from them. I keep getting distracted by new Instagram recipes instead lol
Several of the books are written in a way that tell family/cultural stories along with the recipes and I really want to deep dive into them and learn how to cook better now that I live somewhere with amazing ingredients almost year round.
If you are here reading this MUAH!!! Thank you - I missed you! Happy New Year!
What are your reading, blogging or even personal goals for the year?
Or do you do a word or phrase? That's what I usually do but I'm sort of just carrying all my past words forward this year since I think they will be relevant - LAUGH, SIMPLIFY, DISCONNECT lol
OMG it is you! Lol. Welcome back
ReplyDeleteAlso the cookbook thing. Dang, I should do that
OMG,, it's been so long that your comment went to spam jail lol
DeleteI got SO many cookbooks this last year, yet I still make whatever scrolls through IG lol
Happy New Year, Karen! Good to hear from you.
ReplyDeleteBlogging is hard so the best way to post more often is to talk about whatever amuses you at the moment. A book, an experience. Good luck.
In 2025 I hope to continue and finish reading the rest of Tom Wolfe's oeuvre. Love his writing, both fiction and non-fiction.
My bigger problem is that I kind of hate the typing/blogging part lol I would like whatever is in my brain to magically appear on the screen. Alas, that will not happen lol
DeleteThank you for stopping by Aly! And Happy New Year.
YAY! I finally found you, Karen. I am following along with you in our blogging life, lol!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I thought to check your IG bio - no idea what I didn't do it sooner. I just assumed you were a Bookstagrammer only. Well - it's been fixed!
DeleteThanks for stopping by.
"I read 17 books last year and posted 16 times on the blog - not even one of those posts were a review EEK!"
ReplyDeleteThat's...interesting LOL.
"Oh how the mighty have fallen - I used to easily read one book a day! [...] "(Old Lady...I remember in my day when we blogged...lol)"
😂
Remember you're a rebel? Schedules are bad for you! Maybe you should set a goal of NOT reading and NOT blogging, so you would do it just out of spite 😂 😘.
I hope with the new year you can turn over a new leaf (I also hope 2025 will be kinder to both of you). One thing is true...you miss blogging when you stay away too long, but we miss you as well!
But will I know that I set a goal NOT to read so that I WILL read and then NOT read???? lol
DeleteI should also mention that I only read 1 chapter (but 2 books) for 2 days so far this year, so, as you suspected, it's going swimmingly ha!
I do feel an urge to blog and read though so that's the first stage.
And...I'm glad we stay in touch whether I'm blogging or not!!
I'm here and reading you! What a great treat to see your feed pop up in my Feedly. I like your goals for you and give yourself grace to change them if they aren't working for you.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about Kevin's dad and the rough year. I hope your health is okay/improves. I've got a lot of anxiety over the coming year, and I'll have to figure out how best to deal with it. xoxo
Thank you Thank you!!
DeleteYeah, I think that's the key for me - NO PRESSURE & some flexibility.
I'm dreading this year (world/news wise) I need to find a good coping mechanism. I already don't do SM like I did the last time so that should help. But we're all going to need to find that balance of being informed with getting drained emotionally. And what is most effective and helpful to others.
Sorry to hear about Kevin's dad. That is a hard life adjustment. You have a nice mix of goals that seem very doable. I think the food one is my favorite. I hope you post pictures.
ReplyDeleteIt was just a rough year of traveling (West coast to East) a lot for Kevin and there was a lot of family things going on.
DeleteYeah, I'm MUCH better with small goals lol Really, I'm better with none, but small and doable should work lol
I try to get on Instagram sometimes but it's just not my thing. lol My daughter loves it but I'm on my blog more than there. Hopefully this year is better.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to be the only one I gravitate to. But I don't spend a lot of time posting there or follow thousands of people, so it's manageable and calming for me.
DeleteWelcome back. Sometimes bloggers leave and none of know what happened. So at least you are telling us life got in the way of reading and blogging. No biggie. It happens to everyone sometime. Be gentle with yourself.
ReplyDeleteHow about a little fun with our 2024 end of year book lists? Join me for the My Year in Reading , which is little like Mad Libs but with book titles. Check it out: My Year in Reading
I'm fine taking time off, it's just that I also miss it so it's hard to do two opposing things. I need the blog to go directly from my brain and onto the page haha
DeleteI worry when people vanish. Luckily I do stay in touch with most of the bloggers other places as well.
Thanks for stopping by!
HELLO! 👋
ReplyDeleteMy sincere condolences to Kevin, you, and his family. 💔
Try to keep positive thoughts about your health and up coming medical tests. HUGS! 💪
I only posted 24 times on my blog last year. My lowest ever. 😯 Even lower than my first year (33 times) and that was only a partial year. 😏 Twice a month is a pretty good number. Not too stressful. A once a month check-in is a great thing because you know we all do care. 🤗
My only real reading goal is to still keep my reading down to one book a week. Listening to audiobooks while walking and doing tasks like folding laundry, and my nails, was helping to pump up my numbers before, but I realized doing that instead of listening to music was tweaking my anxiety. It's not worth it. 😌
I am all for seeing cooking/baking posts as you go through your cookbooks! 🍰
Thank you for the condolences.
DeleteI see that a LOT of my fellow bloggers have been posting less or taking very long breaks. It makes me sad, but I get it, because I'm doing it too. I do love coming back and checking in though!
I cannot multitask with audiobooks, which sort of defeats the purpose lol I can only listen and drive and that makes an audiobook take forever for me lol However, they are probably the only reason I got any reading done last year.
I'm so sorry to hear about Kevin's dad. I hope you are both doing well. Please let me know if you need anything! As for blogging... same girl same. I keep telling myself I'm going to make time for it, and I REALLY want to, but then LIFE. I promised myself I'd make more of an effort this year because I really do miss it. When I was checking on old blogging friends, I noticed that there are very few of us left (the ones I used to interact with daily).
ReplyDeleteThanks Lindsi. How are youuuu? It's been so long since we've texted. I sent you a card but I should have checked that you still lived int he same place lol
DeleteMy brain has difficulty focusing on blogging these days. If it was just typing out a post, I probably could do it, but the links, uploading pics, formatting - it drains me lol
Even most of the still *active* bloggers don't post very much anymore.
Sorry to hear about Kevin's dad. It is perfectly okay to have life get in the way of blogging. Just know we'll still be here if/when you are able to post. I'll admit, it's been nice having you stop by my blog again!
ReplyDeleteThanks Ethan. That was a nice comment to come back to.
DeleteI think about you a lot, thanks to your coffee ground tip, I've saved several of my plants from the brink of death lol