My reading and blogging goals for 2020 and a reflection of 2019
As tradition calls, I have decided to look back on my achievements from last year and prioritise my goals for this year. 2019 was a difficult year in many ways but it was also very rewarding as I managed to read many wonderful books and grow my blog in a way I never thought was possible.
These were my goals from last year:
Read 55 books – achieved!
I finished my 55th book on New Year’s Eve! I don’t know how this always happens but in 2017 and 2018 I found myself flipping through the pages of a tense thriller which made reaching my Goodreads challenge so much easier. The same happened on New Year’s Eve 2019 when I was halfway through The Whisper Man and just couldn’t wait to see what happens.
Branch out to other genres – achieved!
This was probably the goal that I was most focused on last year and I am happy to say that I managed to achieve it. I read several Science Fiction and Dystopia novels as well as a Poetry book and a few Non-Fiction books for book club. This has made my reading experience much more valuable and I find myself reflecting on the books I have read a lot more as I am no longer reading just thrillers and contemporary literature.
Discover Spanish Contemporary Literature – failed miserably!
I feel ashamed to say that, despite living in Spain and being surrounded by books in Spanish, I didn’t read even one Spanish book last year. I already have 2 Spanish novels at home waiting for me in my bookcase but I kept putting off reading them until the end of the year when it was already too late. I hope to rectify this in 2020 as I am sure that reading in Spanish will benefit my knowledge and use of the language a lot.
Schedule my posts in advance – achieved!
Although I didn’t always schedule my posts in advance, I usually had a clear idea of the blog posts I want to write and book for the next month. Most of my book reviews were usually written and scheduled at least one day before publication which made organising my blog so much easier than before.
Design a new look for my blog – sort of achieved?
I redesigned my blog in April last year in time for my one year blogiversary however I am still not too pleased with the new design. I hope to do some more research this year to understand how I can use WordPress custom designs to my advantage and will hopefully redesign my blog layout again.
Summary: I reached most of my goals for 2019 and I am especially pleased to have read a much more diverse range of literature. I didn’t focus much on my blog design and layout after the redesign at the beginning of the year but I managed to organise my blogging to fit my schedule by planning and writing posts in advance.
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My goals for 2020
Read 55 books from a variety of genres
I have decided to keep the same Goodreads challenge as 2019 and also keep my goal of reading books from many different genres. I hope to branch out into Young Adult and Fantasy this year and maybe try a few Romance books again.
Discover Spanish Contemporary Literature
I will try to reach this goal this year after completely discarding it at the end of last year. As I already have some books in Spanish at home I hope that it won’t be too difficult to achieve as long as I put time aside to focus on them rather than my most recent ARCs or my kindle.
Don’t overload myself with ARCs
I went overboard with ARCs last year and at one point found myself too overwhelmed with deadlines and had to force myself to writeΒ reviews. I don’t enjoy this part of blogging and have decided that for this year I will only read one ARC per month to spread them out across the year. I also want to keep my Netgalley average above 80% so hopefully this goal will help me meet that target.
Redesign my blog
There is still a long way to go until I feel completely happy with my blog design. I am not very knowledgeable in this area so I know that I will have to do some research beforehand so it is quite possible that this goal might be postponed until the end of the year. However, I know that design is very important for first impressions so I want to ensure that I focus on this area as well.
Get more involved in the book blogging community
I am so pleased to have found many wonderful book bloggers who I have formed connections with through this community but lately I feel like I am less inclined to blog hop and find new bloggers. I hope to correct this in 2020 as this is a fundamental part of book blogging and also a great way to get to know others, find new books and share new ideas. I have set a preliminary target of blog hopping at least twice per week although I know that this might be hard to reach over the next three months when I know that I will have other career and travel related goals planned.
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Those are my goals for 2020. Most of all, I hope to read many more interesting books across different genres and also try to read more in Spanish. I enjoy blogging but I hope to focus more on design and also find time to discover new bloggers in the community.
Question time
What are your reading and blogging goals for 2020?
20 Comments
FictionFan
Congratulations – you did brilliantly on your 2019 goals! Hope you have as much success in 2020, and more importantly, read some great books! π
Darina
Thank you! Ah, I hope so too! Hope that 2020 is a great reading year for you as well! π
nsfordwriter
Well done and best wishes for your goals this year! Good luck with the Spanish lit π
Darina
Thanks! I do hope that I’ll finally get round to the Spanish books. Hope 2020 is a great year for you too! π
imfullybooked
Well done on your 2019 goals! I hope you smash 2020, too, and have a great reading year! I would also like to get more involved in the community in 2020. Also, post way more. I’m going to try and make blogging a priority – something I definitely didn’t do in 2019.
Darina
Thanks so much! I know, getting involved in the community is tough when there is always something going on. I hope you manage to make it happen this year!
Stephen Writes
Congratulations on achieving so many of your 2019 goals, Darina! You did extremely well to reach your reading target! I also managed to read lots of different genres, which I’m really happy with. Good luck for 2020!! π
Darina
Thanks, Stephen! I’m glad that we both managed to find books we love other than our usual genres! Thanks and good luck to you too! π
Yvo
Sounds like you had a great 2019 and good luck with your goals in 2020!
Darina
Thank you! I hope that 2020 is a great year for you too!
Lashaan Balasingam @ Bookidote
I think you can say that you’ve achieved a good chunk of your goals from 2019 and can easily achieve the rest and more for 2020! π I like the idea of focusing less on ARCs too; it’s something I’ve been doing more and more every year. They detract me from reading some of the books I’ve had on my list FOREVER! π Good luck with your goals! π
Darina
Thanks so much, Lashaan! I agree, sometimes we just need to read those books we’ve been putting off for a while! It’s definitely my plan for this year and so far it’s working haha!
TheBookaholic
Awesome! Best of luck for this year!
http://www.thebookaholic1402.wordpress.com
Darina
Thanks so much!
jennifertarheelreader
Congrats on your achievements, Darina, and good luck with 2020! I love your goals, especially the Spanish literature.
Darina
Thanks, Jennifer! I really hope to read some more Spanish literature this year!
Book Twins Reviews
Congrats to achieving so many of your goals last year!! I’m still redesigning my blog years later, and some of my goals never see completion, so I’m happy when some do. π
Darina
Haha, I agree completely! I feel most bloggers always have parts of their design that they are never truly happy with which is why we are always redesigning.
stargazer
Sounds like a great set of goals for 2020, hope everything goes according to plan! I must admit, I am not very ambitious, when it comes to setting goals for my reading or blogging. Both are meant to be fun hobbies, and as soon as I start setting goals, it starts to feel more like a chore..
Darina
Thank you! I think that’s great, reading and blogging should be hobbies (unless you want to make a living out of blogging) so I also don’t see a reason to set too many goals. I try to keep mine realistic to keep me motivated and I didn’t do that well last year but I think I manged it better this year.