My Reading Goals for 2019

Hello hello, it’s that time of the year again, when we take stock of the year gone by, and set new goals for the year ahead. So staying true to the spirit of the season, I am here sharing My Reading Goals for 2019.

If you know me, you know that I am a committed goal setter. Goals, tasks, lists, it’s how I function, and how I thrive. Also, I feel goals, in any area of our lives really, are important to take control, and determine the direction in which we want to take our lives.

Without them, it’s easy to flounder, in no particular direction, and sometimes run around in circles, accomplishing nothing much. And then before we know it, another year of our lives would have passed us by, just like that.

So that’s basically why I set goals in general, to ensure forward momentum, whether that is by an inch or a mile, or hopefully more.

And today I am here to share one part of the goals I have set for myself for the new year – my reading goals for 2019.

But before that, I have to say..

I titled this as reading goals, but there are some goals here that do not necessarily involve reading, but are still bookish in nature, and so I am including them all here.

Because well, they are close enough, and who really cares? Except me, of-course. And I like it this way.

So now onto the goals..

1. Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks – This is something that I’ve wanted to do ever since I got back into reading (and tracking my reads) actively. Which was about 3-4 years back now.

However, just to be clear, I was always a reader, from my early childhood. But back then I never tracked what I read, or reviewed anything (not sure the review platforms even existed back then). And then I took an unintentional sabbatical of sorts from reading, that lasted a few years, as I was dealing first with a pregnancy, and then a new-born.

But ever since I’ve found my way back into the reading groove, I’ve had this goal of reading 52 books in 52 weeks, and then staying at that number forever after, by at-least reading 52 books every year. Because let’s face it, as much as I admire the people who read 100+ books every year, that’s unrealistic for me. Plus, I know that I will be happy with 52 books every year.

That being said, after a long-ish sabbatical from reading, it was kind of unrealistic to expect to start reading 52 books right from the first year, so I slowly built up to this goal. I read 35 books that first year back, then 40 & 45 books the following years. And then this past year I managed to read about 48 books. So at this point, I feel confident enough to reach for my dream goal of 52 books in 2019.

2. Read My Own Damn Books – This seems like a simple enough goal, to read the books that I already have. But I have to tell you, this is the one thing I struggle with the most. Because every single year, I get distracted by the new and shiny reads, and then there are the time-bound review copies, the library holds, not to mention the ARCs (advance reader copies) that are sent my way. Which means that these lovely books that I own (and very much want to read) end up really low on the priority list.

I know that there used to be a challenge that Andi from Estella’s Revenge set up that was titled – Read My Own Damn Books (which is clearly what inspired the title of this goal). I have to check if it’s happening in 2019 too, and if yes, I’ll be entering that one. But honestly I know that by itself is not going to be enough, because this is something I fail at consistently.

So for 2019 I am also going to list out all the books I have on my physical TBR pile publicly, and track my progress as the year goes by. This is in the hope that public accountability will help (but I realize I am shameless enough that it might not help at all).

As of now I am not sure if I’ll do this on the blog, or my Insta, but I’ll keep you guys posted. I’ll probably share the list on the blog, and track my progress on Insta. I’ll let you know either way.

3. Read Books High on My Priority List – This is very similar to the above goal. These are books that I do want to read, but get neglected due to other time-sensitive commitments that I mentioned above.

The only difference between these books and the books I mentioned above is that I actually own those books, and these books I don’t own yet. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t want to read them. In-fact there are some books that are super high on my wish-list that I haven’t even bought in the fear of them ending up in the above pile.

And I know, I know this might sound ridiculous, especially to non-readers, but I am sure fellow readers get the struggle that is TBR overwhelm.

Anyway I’ll be making a list of these books soon too, just to have a record for myself, and also to be able to track progress better. And I’ll possibly share the list, either on here or on my Instagram.

4. Re-Read A Favorite Series – This is a pretty straightforward goal. I love to re-read my favorites, but these days, it’s very difficult to get the time to do it. Or rather I have to say that I don’t make the time for it. And I really want to change that. Because I know that there are few things that give me as much joy as re-connecting with a favorite book. Even better if it is a series.

And so I am making it a goal to re-read a favorite series in 2019. Though I will be happy to settle with re-reading a favorite standalone book too. And will consider this goal complete even then.

But I have to mention that I am excluding the Harry Potter books from this goal. Because that is one book series I have no trouble revisiting, and this time I really want to prioritize the other favorites (which btw do exist!).

5. Do a Readalong with my Son – So in this past year, there has been an amazingly wonderful development. My 6 year old has finally discovered he loves books. Not discovered books, because thanks to an overly eager mommy, he was introduced to them as soon as he was born, and was an above average reader all along.

But in 2018, he decided he loves them, almost as much as he loves his video games (which btw is a LOT, sigh). And what’s more, every now and then he picks books over the games (MAJOR win, if you ask me).

Which is why, this year I want to do a couple of readalongs with him or maybe buddy-reads (of proper full length books, a little above his reading level), where either I read a book to him or we read the same book at the same time, but on our own. I have to see how this works out. But for now this is my goal. And I would love some recommendations, if you have them.

Also Read: 3 Things to Keep in Mind While Setting Reading Goals

6. 52 Posts in 52 Weeks – I realize this is technically a blogging goal, but since I have decided to transition Shanaya Tales back into being just a book blog (for many reasons, all mostly revolving around overwhelm), I think this will work as a bookish goal. Especially considering I will be writing mostly (if not only) about books?

Now in an ideal world, this will mean 1 post per week. But I realize this might not go as per plan, so in that case I will just make up for lost time/content to hit this goal. Because I do want to do at-least 1 post per week (if not more). And I do better with concrete number goals, which is why this is on here.

7. Create Bookish Content outside of Book Reviews – This is another blogging goal, but again directly related to books, as it is about the kind of bookish content I want to post on Shanaya Tales.

So far, the bookish content on Shanaya Tales, was mostly (but not only) limited to book reviews. And while I enjoy writing and sharing reviews, this year I want to focus on creating non-review bookish content too, that I personally enjoy reading as well as talking about.

This doesn’t mean I am phasing out book reviews, not at all. The book reviews stay, this is just bonus content. Though I think bonus is not the correct word, because I am striving for a 50-50 content split between reviews and other bookish content.

But the ratio is not important. So long as I post significant non-review content in 2019, I will consider this goal a win.

8. Participate in the Online Bookish Community (through Readathons ) – I love Readathons! And I do participate in them on and off. But this year I want to make them a priority, and carve out the time to participate in most of them, especially my favorites. Because I feel they are one of the best ways to interact with the online bookish community, and also connect with fellow book nerds all around the world!

But usually, I find out about them 1.5 days before they start, and then it’s a mad scramble to get organized.Which is why, for 2019, the plan is to set myself up for success by making a comprehensive list of these Readathons, so that I will have an easy point of reference to track them, and better prepare for them.

Let me know if you’d be interested in a list like that too, and I’d be happy to share.

9. Create a New Readathon – This is really only an idea at this point. An idea on which I have done some preliminary research to ensure that the readathon that I want to create doesn’t already exist. But nothing outside of that.

So this is essentially a stretch goal at this point. Nonetheless, one I hope I will be able to work on and accomplish in 2019.

10. Start A Bookish Newsletter – And my final goal is to create and send out a monthly bookish newsletter for the email subscribers of Shanaya Tales.

Now to be honest, this has been an unsaid goal for a LONG time, but this year I am making it a priority.

Because I have a couple hundred folks who subscribe to Shanaya Tales via email, who at the moment are only getting automated post notifications, and that is something I would like to change.

Especially because these folks are mostly fellow book nerds, interested in bookish content, who have trusted me with space in their email inbox, and I don’t take that lightly. I want to provide value in return for their trust.

At the moment I am still working out the exact details of what this newsletter will include, but for the most part, the plan is to create and share the content I love to read/ keep up with myself.

So this means the newsletter would most likely include the latest from the bookish world, from news to reviews, and everything in between, and also the best deals that I can find on books (because like some of you know, that is my secret obsession) – all of which will be exclusive to the newsletter, and not shared on the blog.

Oh and if that sounds like something you’d be interested in, I’d love to have you on-board. Just enter your email, and I’ll add you to the list. And I promise it’ll be just one email, on the first Saturday of the month (since I’m disabling automated post notifications), and a whole lot of bookish fun!

That’s all from my end, folks. I would love to hear from you. Have you set goals for the new year 2019? Bookish or otherwise? What is the one thing you would like to accomplish in the new year, over and above everything else?

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