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Hello Hello! How are you?
Today I’m back on the blog with a post about my goals and ambitions for the next year. The last time I did this was in 2021, and I have kept a few of those previous goals for 2023.
Keep on reading to find out what goals I have!
Finish my Master’s thesis
I’ve been dragging my thesis behind me for 3 years and it’s starting to get stressful and long. I had to apply to another year of my master’s degree because of health issues I had this summer which stopped me from completing my thesis on time, so I’ve been given an extra year. Half of that year has already gone however, so as soon as 2023 arrives, I’m jumping back into the thesis and will do my best to tackle a little bit each day, expect on my long work days. I also need to remember to rest and not burn myself out, so the POMODORO method and listening to my body will be my best friends. I’m hoping to get my thesis completed and presented by the end of April/start of May, so which me luck!!!
Read more books out of my confort zone
I’ve realised that over the years, I’ve gotten myself into some very specific reading tastes. I will generally read anything if it takes my fancy, but let’s be honest, at the end of the day, it’s fantasy all the way. So this year I want to try reading some science-fiction, some French fantasies, some more thrillers (I’m more of a mystery reader, so I want to challenge myself), more nonfiction (not necessarily true crime which I love), and more literary fiction both in French and English. I’m excited to challenge myself to picking up some different books during the year.
Read more Classics
I’ve added this goal to my year lists for about 4 years, and every year I seem to fail at reading more classics. I have a lot of my shelves, and a lot really intrigue me, so to keep myself accountable and to make sure I do somewhat complete this goal, I’m going to name 5 classics that I want to read in 2023: Les Misérables by Victor Hugo (this year I want to reread my favourite book in English), Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.
Finish the first draft of my novel
I’ve also had my first novel’s plot and characters in my head for at least 3 years, and I’ve already written about 120000 words, but it’s not finished yet and it’s time for my story to reach the page. It’s going to be YA fantasy featuring witches and that’s all I’m going to say. I managed to write a lot more words during NaNoWriMo two years ago, so maybe this year, I’ll finish this first draft.
Spend more time doing what I want
I’ve been at uni for 5 years, and I’ve been working for nearly 2, alongside doing a lot of other things (because I can never say no lol), and I’ve realised that I’ve not had much time for myself for a long time. This year, my fiancé and I will have been together for 7 years and we are getting married, so I’d like to have more time to spend with him, but also more time to just do what I want, whether its being creative, reading, spending more time walking my dogs, travelling and just being able to say “today I’m not doing anything”. It’s important to rest and relax at times, and I’m going to try to focus on some extra me time in 2023.
Be more creative!
I learned to crochet when I was 7 years old, and I’ve done some crocheting on and off since then, but lately I’ve really gotten back into it and found lots and lots of project that I want to do. I also want to learn other crafts like punch needle, and I want to do some more bullet journaling and just other creative things that will keep me focused and entertain me. One of my first projects this year is making a sofa in crochet for my cats, so stay tuned to see how it turns out!
Tackle the physical and NetGalley TBRs
I have so, so, so, so many physical books on my TBR, it isn’t even funny… I have to go through them all and unhaul any I don’t fancy reading anymore and make sure to only keep the ones I really want to keep, so I don’t know the real number yet, but I think it’s about 600 books. And let’s not even go into details about the NetGalley backlog. There are lots and lots and I really need to get to them this year, so I’ll be using my TBR Jar to do this!
Complete my reading challenges
I just wrote a post about these challenges, that you can find here. So I won’t go into much more detail today, but I have a few challenges I really want to compete this year, and since I’ve been able to use a lot of my Physical TBR to fit the prompts, I think I have a better chance at accomplishing them!
23 books in 2023
I’ve tried to tackle this challenge every year for a few years and I never seem to manage it, so this year I’ve chosen books that I really want to read and have wanted to read for a while now, so I think that will help me more. Here is my TBR for this challenge:
The Name of the Wind (#1) by Patrick Rothfuss
House of Earth and Blood (#1) by Sarah J. Maas
Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
True Crime Addict: How I Lost myself in the Mysterious Disappearance of Maura Murray by James Renner
From Blood and Ash (#1) by Jennifer L. Armentrout
The Witches: Salem, 1692 by Stacy Schiff
Betty by Tiphany McDaniel
The Atlas Six (#1) by Olivie Blake
The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by V. E. Schwab
Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff
The Betrayals by Bridget Collins
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
Crave (#1) by Tracy Wolff
The Fact of a Body by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown
The Escape of Jack the Ripper by Jonathan Hainsworth
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
A Girl Called Owl by Amy Wilson
The Last Wish (#1) by Andrzej Sapkowski
The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heap by H. G. Parry
The Invisible Library (#1) by Genevieve Cogman
Good Girl, Bad Blood (#2) by Holly Jackson
Start posting on Instagram again
I haven’t posted a photo on Instagram since about June 2021, and I miss it a lot. We’ve now got a kind of lounge space set out for ourselves in my house (since my grandparents have moved in and it has become chaos and hell)…. So I’ll have a littl space to set up some photo backgrounds and hopefully take some more photos to post. I’ll try to get into a routine for this, but I won’t stress myself out and give myself too much work, as I want it to remain something that I enjoy doing!
Regularly update my new reading journal
I’ve recently bought a really cute little reading journal on Etsy (here is the link!) as I really missed doing my bullet journal in 2022 but know I won’t really have the time this year to start it up again. So I’ll still be able to keep track of my reading with my new journal, and I’m really happy about that!!
Series backlog!
And the last goal for 2023 is to tackle the long list of series I want to start and finish. I’ll have a TBR post up with these soon, but I’ve gone for mostly fantasy, with a few other genres added in!
That’s all for now, I hope you enjoyed reading my post.
See you soon, stay safe,
Ellie xx