Although 2020 was a tough year, books and blogging were a wonderful escape for me and I still managed to focus on some of the goals I had set for myself at the beginning of the year. As in previous years I decided to review some of those goals and also set new ones for this year.
My goals from last year were:
Read 55 books from a variety of genres – achieved
I kept my goals of reading 55 books the same as in 2019 and I once again managed to reach this goal by reading my last book on New Year’s Eve! I also read a wide variety of genres including Fantasy, Young Adult and Science Fiction in addition to my usual favourites Contemporary Fiction, Historical Fiction and Thrillers.
Discover Spanish Contemporary Literature – sort of achieved
I read three books in Spanish last year which was an improvement from the previous year however I was hoping to read many more books in Spanish. It feels like my TBR list is ever growing and mostly with recommendations for books written in English so I was constantly trying to beat the backlist and read those books in English that were piling up on my list.
Don’t overload myself with ARCs – achieved
My goal from last year was to only request one ARC per month which I followed however unfortunately a lot of the ARCs were published in October, November and December. Even though I read the ARCs throughout the year my reviews were written and published mostly at the end of the year.
Redesign my blog – achieved
I redesigned my blog in May and at first was happy with the final look however I now want to redesign it again! This often happens a few months after I choose a new theme as I start to find flaws and research new ways to enhance the design.
Get more involved in the book blogging community – not achieved
Unfortunately I did not focus on this goal as much as I would have liked. I had originally planned to blog hop at least twice per week however there were moments in 2020 when I would not blog hop for two-three weeks at a time – something I hope to correct this year! However, I was very pleased to become a member of TheWriteReads and connect with so many wonderful book bloggers!
My goals for 2021
Read 60 books
I have decided to increase my target by 5 books this year and hope to read a total of 60 books by the end of the year. I think this is achievable however I would have to read consistently throughout the year.
Read at least one Spanish book per month
I have several Spanish books on my Kindle and a few paperbacks in my bookcase waiting to be read. There are already several Spanish authors whose work I enjoyed so I hope to read some more of their books and discover new Spanish authors too.
Read at least one Non-Fiction book per month
I discovered Non-Fiction, in particular Self Help and Personal Development books, towards the end of 2020. I like how it breaks up my usual pace in reading Fiction books so I hope to continue with this trend this year. There are already several Non-Fiction books on my bookshelf so I think that this goal should hopefully be easy to achieve.
Restart my Studious Saturday posts
Back in 2018 and 2019 I was regularly publishing discussion posts in a segment called Studious Saturday which involved sharing my thoughts on different aspects of reading and authors. This winded down in 2020 however I have many ideas and hope to continue this segment in 2021.
Refine my blog from a design and statistics point of view
I am still not completely satisfied with my blog’s design and believe that this can be improved. I hope to look into this as well as the possibility to change my blog to self-hosted and use this as a way to improve my stats in the community and wider web. Although I blog for pleasure and don’t focus too much on stats, I recognise that there is still a lot to improve and I hope to research this area more during this year.
Question time
What are your reading and blogging goals for 2021? Did you achieve your goals from 2020?