February might be more than halfway over, but…better late than never, right?

I actually intended to post this in early January, but obviously, that never happened! As a result, this has been sitting in my drafts for quite some time now. I set these goals in December of last year but I really wanted to share them, and I also want to do some check-in blog posts throughout the year. 

Speaking of goal check-ins, before I share what my reading goals are for 2021, I want to share how I did with my 2020 reading goals. 

1. Read 80 Books.

I ended up reading 109 books, so we’re good here! I had a feeling I would exceed this, but I wanted to keep it low so I could devote more time to larger and more complex books, and also not feel pressure for quantity-related goals.

2. Set Some Time in the Morning to Read.

This is something that I wanted to try in the morning before work as I worked on a better morning routine, but I found out that this doesn’t really work for me! I prefer night reading because I’m not worried about being so lost in a book that I’ll miss having to be somewhere or do something. I did start reading more in the mornings on weekends though – so this sort of worked out!

3. Cut Down my Physical TBR.

It looks like my TBR was in the upper 60’s around the time of last year’s post. But that was before Christmas, and I got a lot of books for Christmas, and went to another library sale, so I think my physical TBR was actually closer to 80? Which is the most I’ve ever had on my physical TBR. I was at 40 at the end of 2020 – which is not the progress I would have expected to be at, but halving my TBR was really good progress! I think for the first half of the year I was deadset on getting books off my TBR, but as the year progressed I missed borrowing books from my library and reading new releases. I’ll do better about balancing that this year so I can continue to both minimize my TBR and enjoy both backlist books and new releases.

4. Start Reviewing More ARCs.

This is something I’ve definitely started doing, but slowly, which I’m fine with! At the end of last year, I reviewed 13 books from NetGalley, and I’ve also reviewed other ARCs from both authors, publishers, and one blog tour. And now that I’ve been doing this for a year I’m definitely more comfortable with the flow of when to request/lookout for e-ARCs, knowing the right time to read/review, etc.

5. Participate in at least one readathon.

I ended up doing two this year (both in October, actually). And I think I would have done more if I were more aware of when they were happening, which I need to work on! I also need to learn how to balance the reading part with the social media part because I feel like I’m not great at that either. But overall, I’m happy I participated in a couple this year and I’m looking forward to trying some more next year!

6. Maintain an Excel Sheet of Books Read.

Yeah…I didn’t do this.

I did start this year though! I think my biggest obstacle here was that my personal computer was really slow and difficult to work with on certain applications. But with my newer computer, I can access things more easily.

7. Prioritize some sci-fi classics.

I didn’t really do this. I literally just read The Time Machine and that was it. I do have plenty on my TBR though, so again, I should revisit this in the coming year. I definitely want to read more of them – I just also want to read literally everything else too!

8. Start Finishing Series (Or At Least Make Some Progress)!

I even went as far as to make a post to call myself out on the series I haven’t finished but – honestly? I didn’t really go that far as far as progress goes. A fair amount are trilogies as well that I’m two books into, so this shouldn’t be so hard. 

9. Read More Translated Books.

I’ve been reading more translated books, and I’d like to continue this goal in 2021. I’ve read some really incredible translated works this year and I’d like to continue exploring works by authors with varying backgrounds and authors from around the globe.

I feel like I did fairly alright! It’s interesting seeing what happened where I failed with goals and how my changes in reading preferences over time impacted how I weighed certain goals. 

So with that out of the way, here’s what I’m planning for my 2021 reading goals: 

1. Read 80 Books. 

I’m sticking with this goal again, because I think it works well as someone that’s read at least 80 books a year for the past three years. It helps me ensure that I won’t have to worry about actually hitting my reading goal if I decide to go for some more challenging and/or lengthy books. 

2. Balance New Releases and Backlist Books. 

As time has gone on, my interest in new releases has definitely increased! But I also enjoy backlist books, and I want to be sure I’m adequately balancing both. This is something I’ll be considering when planning what books I want to read each month.

3. Get my Physical TBR Down to 15 – and Keep it there!

Given the fact that I halved my TBR from last year, I don’t think this will be too much of a task! I’d love to do TBR zero personally, but I think that’s something that would take a lot of time to do – especially as someone who loves library sales! But I feel like having less than fifteen unread books is optimal for me – if I have a lot of unread books, I feel really guilty about it. And if I have fewer books on my physical TBR, I’ll be more likely to explore new reads without feeling guilty.

4. Keep Track of Reading Stats.

Solely because stats are fun, and I like numbers.

This does mean I had to produce my own Excel spreadsheet, but again, now that I have a better computer I think I’ll have an easier time updating this information, and I can build it into my routine for each time I post a review. I think this information will be fun to share in wrap-ups as well!

5. Finish series that I’m currently reading.

So let’s hope that I actually do this this time. But actually though, I’d really like to complete some series. I’d specifically like to make some good progress with The Expanse, although that will probably require a reread of the first four books. Regardless, I think this will be a good goal to finally strive for as the amount of series I’m in the middle of has definitely prevented me from picking up some new ones that I know I want to read all the way through.

6. Read more translated books.

This is a continuing goal from 2020. Reading more diversely will always be a goal of mine, but something I’d specifically like to do is ensure that I’m reading more books from outside the United States. I’ve read some excellent books last year and would like to make sure that my reading isn’t heavily US-centric. In addition to reading books that take place in other parts of the globe, I’d like to ensure I’m reading translated works too.

I also have some blog goals that I’d like to focus on in 2021! This blog has been a book blog for a little over a year now, and now that it’s become a regular part of my life I want to make it better. Here’s my plans: 

1.Review every book.

Yeah…now that I think about this, I’m not so sure! I’d like to review most books. It takes time to put reviews together, even though I made a pre-built template for them. Maybe this goal should be finding a way to simplify the process of writing reviews. Also, sometimes it’s nice to read a book just to read a book, you know?

2.Blog hop at least 2x/week.

At the very minimum, I’ll blog hop once a week, but I want to make sure I’m blog hopping a little more regularly. Whether this is twice a week or a little every day, I want to make sure I’m spending lots more time visiting lots of blogs!

3. Participate in more blog tours.

I did my first blog tour last year, and that was it after that. There’s not much behind this, other than the fact I’d love to do some more in the future!

4. Tackle running blog tasks.

I have a list of tasks for my blog where it needs sprucing up – anywhere from UI to templates and anything in between. I’d like to set some time aside to finally take care of those!

5. Stay organized.

There’s so many pieces that go into running a blog, and I feel like when I fall behind it’s because I’m not organized enough. I want to figure out a good system that works for me (and then I hope to share that with you too!). 

Last but not least, Bookstagram goals! I feel like I’ve been struggling with keeping up with Bookstagram. So I put together some goals that will help me prioritize it a bit more and get into a regular rhythm for it that’s also maintainable for me. Here are my plans: 

1.Post every other day.

I recently realized that posting every day is way too much for me personally, so instead, I like to post every other day. Some days I do slip on this though, so I want to make sure I’m prioritizing keeping to a schedule.

2.Interact daily.

There are some days where I’m not on Bookstagram at all, which I don’t like. I feel like I’m missing out on friends’ updates when I’m not consistent, and I’d like to make sure this isn’t the case!

3. Make use out of stories, highlights, and reels.

These are three features that I feel like I’m not using much, and three features that make me feel more connected with the community when I do, so I definitely want to use them more in 2021. I also want to try making reels in particular and experiment with videos a bit!

4. Create templates.

I always see such cute templates when I take part in story chains, and I want to try making some too! I already started with a January TBR, and want to try my hand at a few more. 

5. Take pictures bi-monthly.

I used to batch all of my month’s photos in one sitting, but I’m finding it’s way too much. I’ll start taking nice photos, and by the end, I’m just lazily throwing stuff together. So I’m trying a bi-weekly approach now, and so far it’s been a lot less overwhelming!

If you’ve stuck around for what I realize is a ridiculously long blog post, thank you! Are you setting any bookish goals this year? I’d love to know what your plans are for 2021!