My 2019 Goals :)

First things first, Happy New Year! I hope you had a safe and happy holiday. I’d say I hope you all are rested and energized for the new year but me, personally, I’ve been soo tired! I woke up at 10 this morning and then napped from 12:00 til about 3ish. Yeah…my body isn’t 2019 ready just yet.

Towards the end of last year, I started putting together some of the goals I have for this year, bookish and otherwise and I think I’ve narrowed down my ideas to a nice list of attainable goals.

Bookish Goals

• Get a BOOKSHELF!!! If you’ve been reading my blog for a bit, you will know that one of my resolutions for last year was to get a pretty bookshelf and my dad offered to make me one. We are now in a new year and wood has not even been bought for this shelf…I’m not even kidding. I will be taking it upon myself to get a proper bookshelf because this, piles of books on the floor life isn’t cutting it.
• Clear out old books. It can be really hard for me to part with my books but even I know that there are quite a few on my current shelf that I’m not going to read again so why hold on to them? I’m going to clear the shelves and get them organized. I think I’m going to try to sell them and those that don’t get sold, I will be donating to a used book shop in Kingston. Good thing about that is I get a little extra cash and the used bookstore gives store credit for books you donate…which I will then use to buy new books! I can’t lose in this situation.
• As I say that, I really could ease up on the book buying. I won’t tell you how many I bought last year but let’s just say that if I read a book a week, there’d still be some leftover…what? The majority of them were on sale so I have zero regrets. This year, I will tone it down a bit and try to read more of what I already own. Also, I’m going to try not to buy too much into the Bookstagram hype and buy every book recommended by everybody. They will be read eventually.
• Another goal I have which helps with the previous one is doing more book swaps. Not really those major ones that involve international shipping and all that but just with my friends. I used to do that quite often a few years ago but life gets in the way sometimes. I will pick that back up again this year.
• I want to read new types of books. I think I’m pretty eclectic in my book tastes but I think I could mix it up even more. I want to read more classics, more Caribbean authors etc. I think being involved with my local library and the National Library will help me with this goal. Bless my library, for an organization that is underfunded, they really do work so hard and I really appreciate it. They will see more of me this year.
• Reading Challenges. Last year I did the Penguin UK read the Year Challenge. They are having another one this year but I have decided to do their Classic Books Reading Challenge instead. This will help me achieve my goal of reading different types of books and I’m sure I can find copies of the books listed in the challenge at the library or through friends. Full circle.
• There are some authors whose work I definitely want to read. These include Toni Morrison, Octavia Butler, V.S. Naipaul, Jamaica Kincaid, James Baldwin and Andrea Levy. I don’t think I will read them all this year but I want to read as many as I can. I also already own books by these authors so I don’t have to go out and buy.
• I want to join a book club. I tend to be a bit of a loner and being a bibliophile can keep you isolated. Why join the real world when I can be comfortable in my own home reading? Well, I figure I should get out more and meet new people. Plus, the vitamin d would do me some good 🙂

Blog Goals

I do have goals for my blog aside from my bookish goals.

• Blog consistently. I fell off a bit last year more than once but I’m going to try to be more consistent this year. It just means I have to be more organized.
• I’m still trying to find my niche. Do I want to be mostly review based? What are the things I want to write about? I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself though, I want to blog because I want to, not because I feel I have to or the world will crumble.
• New Segments. I’m hoping to add a new segment to my blog but I will update you on this later.
• Wider reach. I’m hoping to get more viewers and subscribers. I’m not quite sure how to do that exactly. I think upgrading my word press account, plus the goals mentioned above will aid in this goal. Also, I think I might join twitter to get my name out there some more. I also would love to figure out how I could possibly earn money from blogging in the long run. Not like millions of dollars or anything like that but a little extra cash never hurt anyone.

These are my goals for 2019 and I’m sure they will evolve as the year progresses. My main goal is to just have fun doing what I’m doing and to keep growing. I hope to connect more with you guys and continue to have great discussions about books and all things book related.

What are some of your goals for 2019?