Bookish goals for 2018

I am feeling excited about the prospect of lots of reading and writing this year. The further I get into my writing degree and the more I hear about books and writing through booktubers and book bloggers, the more enthusiastic I become to read as much as I possibly can.

I am a bit of a slow reader but I am realising that it’s because I get distracted. I often find I have to reread sentences or paragraphs, whether that be because my mind has wandered or whether I’ve closed my eyes to have a rest. I also often choose “mindless” things to do instead (i.e. Netflix and YouTube). However, as 2017 was drawing to a close and I realised that I was not going to reach my Goodreads reading challenge, I managed to finish multiple (already started) books within a week. This showed me that I CAN read a lot, but I need to PRIORITISE!! (It also demonstrates that I just can’t let a goal go!).

I work really well when I have a clear goal, so setting a reading challenge is good for me. The way I have chosen my reading goal for the past few years has been based on the year. To start with I chose the last two digits of the year (e.g. 15 books in 2015). In 2016, I decided this was too easy, so in 2017 I added 10 books (27 books in 2017). I tossed up adding another 10 this year because although I only just made 27, I feel like I could do with a bit of a push. But I decided that with uni etc I don’t want to place too much pressure on myself. My 2018 reading challenge is 28 books, but am definitely aiming to read as much as possible. If I want to be a writer, it is so important that I read, read, read!! I know this is far below what a lot of book bloggers aim for, but I want to enjoy reading and I have to take into account my study and health.

In 2017, my specific goals were (detailed in my 2017 reading goals post here):

> 10 non-fiction books (I read 4)
> 3 classics (I read 6)
> 2 re-reads (I read 2)
1 short story a month (I read 4 individual stories (and a few that weren’t on Goodreads) plus 1 1/2 collections, which = 12 stories. So all up >16 short stories)

I don’t think I am going to make specific goals this year but there are areas I want to put some focus on. I want to increase my non-fiction reads. I am really happy with the amount of classics I read because I have not read many in my life, and I want to continue this. Also, I have been getting back into reading more poetry in the past year, so I also want to keep going with that. A big thing I also want to focus on is actually finishing books I start before starting too many new ones! I have a very bad habit of juggling too many balls books at once and although I like to have more than one book on the go, having too many means it takes me forever to actually finish them all and sometimes they get abandoned even though I was enjoying them.

In terms of my own writing, I want to begin an extended piece this year outside of my uni work. I haven’t done this for a long time because I have been dedicating writing time to uni, but I definitely want to change that this year.

These goals are more loose than last year’s but I think it will work better within the more specific number goal. Prioritsing my reading and writing seems to be the biggest theme, and keeping that in mind throughout the year will hopefully propel me to achieve my goals and have fun.

What are your book related goals for 2018? I would love to hear!