My Goals for 2022 // Reading, blogging, living

Hello, everybody! Happy new year!

Like every year I fall off the face of the earth after christmas and take a long time to claw myself back to the surface. I have no real excuses not to make a wrap-up for December besides that I just can’t be bothered anymore now. It’s the same thing every year. 😒

Anyway, I want to start this year with a post where I put down all my goals for 2022 – so I can conveniently forget about them again. No, but seriously, I want to write this down so I have a reference and that I have something I can look back on at the end of the year. Furthermore, maybe if I write them down I won’t only not forget about it and you can ask me about them every now and then to make sure I stay on track.

Now let’s see what I want to accomplish this year, shall we?

1. I want to read 70 books this year.

Last year I managed to read 100 books. It was a close one, I have to admit. But it has been a goald I’ve had for some years and I managed to actually do it, which makes me super happy!
This year I’ve decided to set the bar a bit lower. I don’t want to look too much at the numbers this year and want to read more for fun and less for the stats. 70 is a good number, I’d say.

2. I want to read at least 20 books from the backlog.

I’m not gonna be unrealistic. I know that I will read a lot of new books this year. There are a few fantastic ones coming out. I’m already excited for those. But I don’t want to forget about the books that I already bought last year and the year before that and the year before that.

3. Regularly update my Goodreads shelfs and Story Graph shelfs.

I’m terribly bad at keeping track of all the books I own, so I want to take better care this year to keep those stats up to date. Especially with Story Graph. I like their graphs but it’s a bit more cumbersome to get everything in there and it’s hard for me to remember to put the books I buy or have read into two apps. I really have to think what to do there.

4. Read some classics.

I know, I say that every year but this year I really want to get ahead with that. I’m not gonna say that I’m going to read one every month but I want to at least read some that are on my tbr like A little princess and Anne of Green Gables.

5. Don’t request too many eArcs and blogtours.

As much as I love it, it’s too easy to fall behind. I would love to request all the books but I don’t like having them in my folders and not reading them and then forgetting about them. That’s bad. Blogtours are great but reading until a specific date is kinda stressful for me, so I’d rather sight up for fewer and make those count.

1. Write at least one review and one other post a week.

This seems ambitious. I know. I also know that I will probably not manage to make this happen every week. But I will keep at it and at least try. I love my blog and even though it’s not overly big, I love sharing things with you and love having a place to put my reviews and thoughts and talk about (bookish) things that matter to me.

2. Make sure that my Reviews page is always up to date.

I know that publishers look at that page when you request books, so this needs to be regularly updated. I know I just said that I would request less but that doesn’t mean that I will neglect to keep my blog neat and tidy.

3. Do more bloghopping

Just so you know, I appreciate you and the hard work you’re doing. You are great. I’m sorry if I didn’t comment under your posts more last year and just left a like. Sorry if I ignored your stuff. I really have no excuse. I want more dialogue this year and bloghopping will be the first thing I will do to achieve that. 🙂

4. Write more meaningful discussion posts

While I love my wrap-up posts and reviews and WWW posts, I really want to write more discussion posts and how-to posts. I love reading those on other blogs so I hope you like reading them at mine. If there is any topic you want my opinion on, put it in the comments. I’m always happy to get new inspiration.

1. Finish the first draft of my Middlegrade novel

When I was 19, just before my A levels and had terrible fear of tests and to fail my A levels and whatnot, I was really afraid of the future. I didn’t know what I wanted to do after school and did not have money to go to university (or any idea what I would want to study anyway). I knew I wanted to write books. I was good at writing essays and stories. The thing is, I never did. But this year I really want to try my best and at least make a first draft out of one of the story ideas I keep in a notebook. I don’t really know where to start or how to do it besides the tips you read anywhere but I still hope I can bring up enough willpower to write it.

1. Get healthy again.

Unfortunately, I’m still struggling with the after effects of my myocarditis which means that I’m still struggling walking shorter (or long) distances, have trouble with stairs and get dizzy and nauseous when I move too quickly. And that my left arm keeps getting numb which is annoying.
Anyway, I really want to get better and will actively work on taking it a bit slower to help my recovery.

2. Get more social again.

My best friend moves away for half a year and I’m gonna miss her terribly. It means that I cannot pop by for a cup of tea after work anymore which is super cozy and lovely and I already feel grumpy that I cannot do that anymore for the forseeable future.
I still wanna make an effort to see some of my other friends on a more regular basis since all this isolation is really bad for my mental health and I don’t want mine to deteriorate just because my best friend is not available like she used to be. (I’m still gonna miss her soooooo much. She’s just the best and nicest and sweetest and smartest friend anybody could wish for.)

3. Try new hobbies

I thought about taking up climbing. When my health is better. I have tried it when I was a kid and I think it could be fun doing it again. They are even opening a new climbing hall in the village I work. That would be a fabulous after work activity.
I also got some paint for christmas from my sister and want to try that. I still have to get some brushes though.

4. Find and move to a new flat

Our lease is running out at the end of July and we have decided that we won’t extend it. The rent is just too high for us and while I absolutely love our flat, it’s time to move on from there and find something new. That will bring a whole set of new challenges but it’s gonna be fine. I hope. I’m not dealing well with change.

What are your goals for the new year? Do you think I can do it? (Of course I can.)