Reading, Blogging and Other Goals for 2021

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Hello Hello! How are you all?

Today I’m bringing you a really long post about the goals I’m setting myself for 2021. They are reading, blogging, writing and university goals, so this is going to be a long one, I hope you’re ready.

I’ve found this year that I work best when I make lists (I’ve always made lists cause I’m a very freakishly organised person) but this year, I have done day-by-day nearly hour-by-hour lists when I have needed to get things done and it has worked so well. I’ve been more productive in the last 3 months than maybe in the last 3 years, so I am hoping to keep that rolling for 2021.

Read more Classics

While I was preparing my TBR Game for 2021 and organising my unread bookshelves, I realised that I have a crazy amount of Classics on my list for someone who doesn’t read that many. My Classics TBR is currently (physical copies only, I have more on my Kindle) at 41 books which is one of my highest-numbered genres on my TBR, and that is so surprising to me. So, in 2021, I would like to read more classics. I won’t give myself a set number because I might fail, but if I manage at least one I will be happy.

Finish the first draft of my book

While participating in NaNoWriMo last November, I realised just how long it had taken me to get back to my book and how much I wanted to finish it. I got to around 90k thanks to my 50k from NaNo and I’m so proud of my accomplishments, so I am aiming at finishing the first draft of my book this year, I’m thinking it might be done at around 120k!

Read and review 20 books from my NetGalley shelf

My NetGalley is out of control and I’m a little bit ashamed by it because I requested so many books at the start thinking I wouldn’t get approved and chaos ensued. I didn’t do too badly reading NetGalleys last year, but this year, I’m going to track them and hopefully read at least one a month, although the goal is 20.

Reach 2000 followers on Instagram – set up a new theme and update my reading in my stories!

I’ve been stuck at 1460-odd followers on my Instagram for a while and I would love if this year I can get over that 2K line. I can’t believe that people actually want to follow me because I’m not a fan of my IG and don’t post on there very regularly anymore, whereas I used to have a proper schedule! To go with the followers, I would like to set up a new theme, one that I like but doesn’t take me ages to set up and edit, so I will have to think about what I can do and how it can work with my really bad lighting! I also really want to do a better job at actually updating my reading, so I will set up a “Books Read in 2021” story to add to throughout the year!

Read 120+ books – with at least 30 from my backlist (thanks to my TBR Game)

My Goodreads Reading Goal for 2021 is 120 books. In 2020, I managed to read 148 books and I’m so proud of myself considering how busy I have been with university. So I’m aiming at 120 books on Goodreads, but I would love it if I can go over that again this year! I have also decided that I wanted to cut down how many books I buy every month, and I’ll still be buying books for book clubs, but that’s only 1-3 a month, and I’m okay with that. So I will be aiming at reading at least 30 books that I already own, thanks to my TBR Game I set up and will be playing every month, I’m determined to beat the backlist!

Read at least 3 poetry books

I don’t read many poetry books, I don’t think I actually really like poetry. But for the last few years, I have been pushing myself out of my reading comfort zone and thanks to that, I have stumbled upon SO MANY amazing books that I would never have thought to pick up otherwise. Every year I add this goal to my bullet journal, but this year I am determined to do it, so please give me recommendations for good poetry books in the comments!

Complete the Popsugar Reading Challenge

I have been participating in this challenge for three years in a row, and for those three years, I have never been able to complete the list. I haven’t done a full tally of my 2020 Popsugar TBR yet, but I think I came the farthest this year, although I’m definitely no more than halfway through it. So this year, I set my TBR again as I always do, but I challenged myself to pick ONLY books from my physical TBR if that was at all possible and added them to a designated tag/shelf on my Goodreads. Out of the 50 prompts, I own 43 books that will fit and that leaves only 7 to buy, and they are all very cheap on Kindle, so I’m happy about that, and I’m determined to accomplish this challenge in 2021.

Reach 3000 followers on Twitter – regularly update my reading thread!

I made a Twitter account a little over a year and a half ago and no way could I have imagined that so soon after making my blog and posting regularly on it and Twitter, that by the end of 2020 I would be at just over 2k followers. That is just mind-boggling to me and I am grateful for every one of you. I’d really like to find some more great bookish people to follow this year! I would also like to regularly update my reading thread, every time I finish a book, posting a nice picture of it, my rating and a link to my review because I failed miserably at updating my thread in 2020.

Reach 400 followers on my blog – give my blog a little revamp!

Again, I am completely astonished by the way my blog has gone this year. I couldn’t have imagined that 11 months after making my blog I would be at 263 followers, I’m so happy and it’s a little bit surreal, to be honest! If I don’t ever gain any more followers I’ll still be happy, but it would also make me happy to gain some more, so maybe I might reach this goal this year! I also realised a while back that there had been a hiccup and my media had all disappeared from my first posts, so along with fixing the photos, I’m hoping to give my blog a little revamp make some new menus, some new banners and see what I can do to make it more me!

Read more #Ownvoices

I have read a few #Ownvoices this year and it’s something that I really enjoy, but it’s also something that is so, so important, for their stories to be heard but also for us all to learn about them. I need to work out a list of some #Ownvoices books I would like to treat myself too and hopefully read all the ones I already have on my TBR, but I’m looking forward to this goal!

Start some series and finish series I’ve already started!  

I have so many series on my TBR and Goodreads “Want to Read” list, it’s a bit scary and crazy actually. I have a few that I’m not far off finishing, and I’ll have to write a list up for in a few weeks’ time, I think it will be fun! I will aim, I think, at starting 2 new series this year, and finishing 3 I have already started, although my list will be a lot longer than just 5 series aha! Keep your eyes peeled for my post on series I want to read in 2021.

Watch more TV shows and films

This is something that I know I don’t make time for. Apart from watching an episode of Charmed a few weeks ago to treat myself after one of my exams and a Christmas film before the holidays, I can’t remember the last time I sat down and picked a film or a series to watch. I’m not happy about that at all, I used to watch so many series! I know I’m not much of a film person, but if I make the time every month to watch one film and a few episodes of a series, I think I’ll be happy! I am going to be rewatching Charmed, for maybe the 10^th time, Criminal Minds for maybe the 7^th time, and I would like to finish Poldark, Outlander, The 100, Arrow, The Witcher and maybe many more! I really want to start A Discovery of Witches too, right after I finish the book series!

Listen to more audiobooks

I just started listening to audiobooks in 2020 and even though the books I listened to were not the best, I enjoyed it! I struggle to concentrate if I don’t have the words in front of me because I have a photographic memory and when I’m having a fibro fog, I just can’t concentrate on anything that isn’t in the written word. But I am going to try to listen to more audiobooks. I spend so much time on screens because of university and blogging, I think my eyes will thank me for using my ears from time to time!

Write reviews as soon as I finish books – and catch up on all my bookmarked blog posts!  

I was very good at this at the start of my blogging journey, but as I’ve gotten busier, I have forgotten about books I’ve read and then struggled to write reviews. I have quite a few reviews to catch up on and will write as many as I can manage with what I can remember of them, and then I will start fresh and write reviews as soon as I have finished the books! And I will also set aside a little bit of time every day or every week to catch up on all the blog posts from you all that I have saved in my browser, in my inbox and in my Twitter bookmarks. I know it sounds stupid to catch up on like… hundreds of posts, but I adore reading them, so I’m going to try my best to catch-up and then keep on track with them!

Research and write the first part of my thesis

This is not a blogging or reading goal, but since my thesis is on disability in English literature, it kind of fits my whole goals direction. I have read one novel so far and a few parts of various research books, and I have loved every minute of it. Before my semester is up, I have to write the first part of my thesis, and this is more the historical and explanation side of disability in books, so it’s going to be an absolute blast for me and I’m strangely excited about it!

Read more graphic novels and start reading comics

And finally, wow this list is long, I would like to read more graphic novels. I started reading graphic novels last year and loved them so much, I definitely want to continue with them. I usually love them and I have found the art style that I know I like, they are really fun and quick to read. I also don’t know if I like comics or not, but I want to give them a shot! So, I would really appreciate it if you could give me recommendations of graphic novels and comics as I want to read quite a few in 2021.

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Well, this is a really long list of goals and challenges, but I’m happy with them all and I love to push myself, so I’m confident that I will be able to accomplish at least half of these. I also like how fun these all seem to me right now, and I’m hoping they stay that way as I’ll want to accomplish them sooner!

That’s all for now, I hope you enjoyed this post. Tell me about your 2021 goals! See you soon, stay safe,

Ellie xx