Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Top Ten Goals/Resolutions for 2015.
I’m going to try to keep it simple this year, and aim for things I have some chance of achieving:
1) Read on a whim! I wrote a whole blog post about this a few days ago (click here if you want to see it) — basically, I’m making it a priority to read according to my moods and fancies and not because of obligations or deadlines.
2) Read outside the box: This seems to be a yearly goal — I need to force myself to read a bit more non-fiction, including history, essays, and armchair travel. I have books already on my shelf that sound amazing, but I always reach for the fiction instead of pushing myself to spend time on non-fiction.
3) Catch up on the books I already own: Yeah, I know, we all have this problem. If I stick to my resolution to read on a whim, I’m pretty sure I’ll get through a lot more of the books I have waiting for me.
4) Request/accept fewer ARCs: This relates to #1 and #3 above. I have to train myself to resist clicking that tempting “request” button on NetGalley every time something catches my eye! Having a backlog of review copies is what makes me feel tense and frustrated when it comes to picking out my next read and feeling like I need to keep to a schedule.
5) Hang out with Buffy: I’m now a full season behind on my Buffy the Vampire Slayer graphic novels, and have Angel & Faith, Spike, and Willow volumes to read as well. I need to do some serious catching up!
6) Reorganize my bookshelves: I say this every year, but my shelves are overcrowded and don’t seem to make any sense at this point. All sorts of books are smushed into random places, either because of physical size or because I was in a hurry (or for ridiculous reasons, like “oh, I love this author, so I’ll put her book next to this other author I love!”). I’m not a stickler or anything, and have no desire to alphabetize or color-code, but it would be nice to have all my sci-fi in one place, and to keep my non-fiction from fraternizing with my YA novels, for example.
7) Donate, sell, upgrade: Related to organizing my bookshelves, it’s time to slim down and weed out some of the books that I either never read and never will, or read once but don’t feel the need to keep. I plan to donate a few bags/boxes for our next big library sale. I have a small stack of books that are new or pretty close to new but that I don’t want to keep for a variety of reasons, and those I’ll try to trade-in at the used bookstore. And for at least one of my graphic novel collections, I’d like to sell the paperbacks that I own and then invest a few more dollars to get the nice hardcover editions.
8) Organize my computer files: I need to spend a few good hours resorting all the various blog-related files on my drive, including photos I’ve taken, book cover images, graphics, headers, etc. I’m going to try to reorganize all of these into an archive that makes sense and is searchable. It shouldn’t be too hard, but I just need some dedicated time to make it happen.
9) Refresh the blog: I’ve had the same theme and layout for a while now, and it may be time for some sprucing up. I’m not sure that I’ll actually change anything significant, but I want to play around a bit with formatting, organization, and widgets and see what happens. I often think I missed out on the artistic gene, so figuring out visuals can be a big challenge for me, but I at least want to try and explore some options.
10) Volunteer: I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and it’s about time to take action! I’d like to do something to share my love of reading while doing good, so I’ve started looking into local volunteer opportunities that relate to literacy, libraries, reading buddies, etc. I haven’t decided yet what I’ll end up pursuing, but I really want to make this happen this year.
I’m sure I could go on and on with things I need to improve or change, but this feels like a pretty reasonable starting place!
What are your top goals for 2015? Wishing you all a wonderful year!
If you enjoyed this post, please consider following Bookshelf Fantasies! And don’t forget to check out my regular weekly feature, Thursday Quotables. Happy reading!
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