Tag: Check in

Reading Goals 2020! | Mid-year check-in

2020Goals (2).png

It’s officially the time of year where does their mid-year posts: check-ins, best/work books so far, etc, and I’m rather pumped for it. I love these kinds of posts, I get so many good recommendations! (PS so if you post these kinds of these and you don’t see me in there in your posts already, please link them and I’ll go lookie)

So, January 2nd of this year, I posted a bunch Reading Goals. This is my progress on them so far:

  • Read 50 books

I’ve actually increased this to 100 books, since I hit it really fast. I’ve been on a manga kick and that really helped. Currently I’m at 132 books read (the majority manga) so I can say both this goal and the updated one are complete.

  • Maintain a consistent posting schedule

At the time of posting, my schedule was Saturday-Sunday-Wednesday. Right now it’s Saturday-Sunday-Tuesday, and I keep it up most of the time. I tend to miss one or two posts per month, but overall I think I’m doing okay, mostly consistent. So considering I still have six months to crash and burn, I’ll say this one is in progress.

  • Keep track of reading statistics

So… I’ve noticed a trend. My goal was to keep track of statistics as I read the books, but I tend to just binge-add fifty or sixty books at a time. So right now, it’s been a while since I’ve updated my stats. But I will do so by the time I post about them. So this also gets a solid in progress.

  • Reduce physical TBR to 200

This one took a bit of an interesting turn: When I made this goal, I had 252 books on my physical TBR. That included fiction and nonfiction. The problem is, I read nonfiction…. sometimes. So I decided to split my nonfiction books to its own TBR. So remaining, I have 236 unread fiction books. Nonfiction honestly I’m not too worried about, because I own so little of it and I read it so seldom. So from this point I’m going to focus on getting my unread fiction down to under 200 books. Cheating? Yes. Pbtbtbt. In progress

And that’s it! So far I haven’t horrendously failed any so I’m doing pretty well I think. Lemme know how you’re doing! And like I said if you post mid-year-y posts, do link me, I wanna see.

Happy reading!

2019 Reading Resolutions Check In

2018 Reading Resolutions

So to start, this originally was going to be a resolutions check in and a reading stats post. But it’s not, now. I’ll get to that below. But man, am I baffled.

At the beginning of the year, I made a post about my 2019 Reading Resolutions. Today I’m gonna let you know how I’m doing.

  • Read 50 books

In progress – I’m 100% I’m gonna hit this one. As it stands, I’m at 47.

In progress – I am right on schedule – 5/10 complete!

  • Keep book purchases around 4-5 books per month

In progress – I fudged a bit in March when I got 7, but otherwise I’m sticking to this!

  • Go on a 2 to 3 month buying ban

Complete! I did a 2.5 month ban from April 1st – June 15th!

  • Reduce physical TBR to 250 books.

In progress – I’ve gotten it down to 267. When I wrote this, it was 283, so… doing ok? I guess?

Complete! Look here if you’re interested in the post about it.

  • Post monthly book hauls

In progress – Haven’t missed a month yet (aside from ban months, but obviously I wouldn’t have books to haul)

  • Maintain a S-W-S posting schedule

In progress, with a bit of an update. The W in the S-W-S schedule was to be Top 5 Wednesdays, but with that currently on hiatus, I don’t have any material. So for the time being, it’s S-S, and it’ll return to S-W-S when T5W picks up.

  • Keep track of statistics

So about that. I was doing it for the first two or three months of the year, and then I utterly stopped because… I stopped. I logged on right before writing this (Friday) to go and update the stats list with all the books I’ve read, purchased, etc, to throw stats into this post, and…. I can’t find it. I cannot find the file. At first I thought I deleted it, so I checked my recycle bin, but it’s not there. I have files I deleted back in 2018 in there, so it’s not like I deleted it and then emptied the recycle bin. But really, I have no idea where this file went! It’s annoying! And it’s not like I don’t know how to look for these things – I write software for a living, I know a trick or two on how to find missing/deleted files. It’s like the file never existed. I’m utterly baffled.

So I’m marking this in progress for now, because I might decide to make another file and have it ready by the end of the year. If I do that, I’ll count it complete. If I don’t, then obviously this one will be a fail. But right now, I’m too mad to go about making a new one, and if I do, it’ll be after I stop being a grouch at my documents folder.

And that’s it! So far, I’m fairly happy with my progress in everything. The only one I really wanna focus on more is the TBR one. How are you doing with any goals you’ve set? Happy reading!

2018: Reading Year in Review

2017 Reading Review

Happy New Year!

This year, I set quite a few challenges for myself, both reading and personal. I’ll go over the reading first, and then the personal at the end so you can back away if you’re not interested. Next year, I plan to do a similar thing with reading goals, but not so much with personal ones. I’ll get to that in a different post, though. But here! We’ll start with stats:

Reading Stats:

Overview

ReadingReview1Readingreview2

readingreview3

Reading by Genre:

  • Nonfiction: 2
  • Graphic novel/manga: 55 (wow)
  • Fantasy: 23
  • Sci-fi: 3
  • Horror/thriller/contemporary: 5

Books DNF’d: 1

Reading Resolutions

(As declared in my resolutions post last year)

Book Related:

  • Complete my Goodreads Challenge of 40 books – Success!
  • Complete my 10 in 2018 list of books – Failed (3/10)
  • Keep book buying low – no more than 6-8 books every three months – Failed (More like 11ish)
  • Get my physical TBR down to 270 books. It currently sits at 301. – Success!
  • Finish the r/Fantasy Book Bingo Challenge by Mar 31, 2018 – Success!
  • Participate in the Beat the Backlist Challenge – Failed (ending up quitting this one)

Blog Related:

  • Post seasonal (not monthly) book hauls – Success!
  • Maintain a S-W-S posting schedule (with the occasional extra post if I’ve got neat things goin’ on) – Success!
  • Keep my To Do list of pending tags under five items at any one time – Success!
  • Update my T5W, Blabber and Tag lists monthly – Success!
  • Write blabbers for at least 1/3 of the books I read – Failed (Haven’t written one since… I don’t even know, man)

So, looks like I did much better in keeping my blog goals than my book goals. The reading goal I found most important was the one where I wanted to decrease my physical TBR to 270. That one, I succeeded in, so woot. For the ‘reading books on the 10 in 2018’ list one, I actually wrote a post on that, going into a bit of blabbering on why I feel like this goal failed.

Personal goals

(As also detailed on the same resolutions post)

So, instead of listing all of the personal goals with a big, fat ‘fail’ next to them, I’m going to say: I failed literally all of them except one. The one I succeeded in was ‘take care of health issues as they arrive’. I’ve been very pro-active in my healthcare this year, getting checkups and whatnot, and tackling health issues as soon as I notice them. So yay, hopefully will live to old age so I can get nice and old and moldy.

But lolololol, totally failed everything else. I’ve noticed a pattern here, and it’ll be mentioned further in my 2019 goals post. Hehe I’m so bad at this.

And that is it! Tomorrow’s post will either be a Top 5 Wednesday post or my 2019 resolutions post (or both, if the topic lines up. The topic hasn’t been posted as of writing this, so right now I’m standing at the edge of the void, waaaaaiting).

I hope you had a good reading year! I can’t wait to see what the new reading goal color is on goodreads, heheh.

Happy reading!

2018 Reading Resolutions Check In

2018 Reading Resolutions

Today I determine which reading goals I’ve achieved, which I’m on the track to, and which to call it quits on and abandon. I know I’m not doing terribly, but I’m not doing as well as I had hoped, either. Here goes nothin’.

At the beginning of this year, I made two posts, one entitled 2018 Reading Resolutions and the other called 10 in 2018. The first is exactly as it sounds, in addition to personal and blog goals as well. The second is a list of books I want to read this year. I’ll review my progress on both posts.

2018 Reading Resolutions

Book Related:

  • Complete my Goodreads Challenge of 40 books – Complete!

Currently sitting at 43!

  • Complete my 10 in 2018 list of books – In Progress

List will be shown below!

  • Keep book buying low – no more than 6-8 books every three months – Kinda failed

I’ve been averaging about 10 books per three months, not 8. So not crazy, but a bit higher than I’ve wanted.

I will liiiikely not achieve this one by the end of the year though, who am I kidding.

Did it! I even won some books from it, too!

I really love the idea of this challenge, but I was a bit discouraged by how you can only submit so many books before it’ll only let you submit retail reviews you’ve written. So I kinda stopped participating in this one after I started consistently getting passed the allotted number of books it’ll let you put in.

Blog Related:

  • Post seasonal (not monthly) book hauls – In Progress

Good so far!

  • Maintain a S-W-S posting schedule – In Progress

I’ve actually upped it to a S-T-W-S schedule recently.

  • Keep my To Do list of pending tags under five items at any one time – In Progress

Good!

This one I actually doing need to do anymore. I changed the layout of my blog to automatically keep a list so I don’t have to.

  • Write blabbers for at least 1/3 of the books I read – In Progress

I’m not sure what the ratio is off the top of my head, but I’m pretty sure I’m close.

Personal Resolutions:

  • Exercise two times per week – In Progress

Was iffy there for a while but I’m solidly doing well on this now. 😀

  • Log all meals in MyFitnessPal – In Progress

Same as above, I tend to fluctuate, but currently am doing pretty good.

  • Make a wedding/honeymoon scrapbook – Not started

ONE DAY.

  • Make a budget – Not started

ONE DAY

  • Start saving for a house – Not started

ONE DAY

  • Take care of my health as issues arise – In Progress

I’d like to say I’m totally on top of it, but I was also carted to the hospital in an ambulance a week and a half ago, so. But! Now I have an official diagnosis, so am ‘on top of it’ again, woo. MY HEART IS AN ASSHOLE

  • Learn Python and R – Not started.

ONE DAY

  • Maintain a Duolingo streak – Kinda failed

I broke it, but have been meaning to pick it back up again. If I have a good streak going by Christmas I’ll consider this one a success

10 in 2018

 

Need to pick up the pace a bit me thinks.

And that’s it! How are you doing on your goals, if you set any? Happy reading!

Mid-Year Reading Madness

It’s half way through what is turning into a really weird year. Seriously, it has been bizarre. But at least I’ve read some decent books during the thing.

At the end of last year, I made a few different posts in which I set reading goals for myself for this year. And very recently, I made another post setting a book buying limit for myself. Those can be found here:

16 in 2016

TBR Jar Challenge/Read Harder Challenge

2016 Reading Resolutions

Book Buying Limit

And here’s how I am doing on those goals:

16 in 2016:

The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
Weave World by Clive Barker
Storm of Swords by George RR Martin – read!
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
The Future of the Mind by Michio Kaku
The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (illustrated) by JK Rowling
14 by Peter Clines
The Curse of the Wendigo by Rick Yancey
Sea of Ghosts by Alan Campbell
Breakable by Tammara Webber – read!
Fired Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flag
Across the Nightingale Floor by Gillian Rubinstein
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

I have read two. :”D Out of sixteen. Heeeee. Looking through this list, the rest of them are still books I want to read, so hopefully it’ll happen. If I get ten of them done at this point, I’ll be happy with myself.

TBR Jar Challenge/Read Harder Challenge:

Read a book over 500 pages: Heir of Fire by Sarah J Maas
Read a horror book: Locke & Key volume 1 by Joe Hill
Read a collection of Essays: Bad Feminist
Read a book under 100 pages: I am a Pole (And So Can You!)
Read a non-superhero comic that debuted in the last three years: Through the Woods (2014)
Read a non-fiction book about feminism or dealing with feminist themes: Bad Feminist
Read a Dystopian or Post-Apocalyptic Novel: Life As We Knew It
Read a book originally published in the decade you were born: Assassin’s Apprentice
Read a book that was adapted into a movie, then watch the movie: Flowers for Algernon (movie in progress)
Read a book with a main character that has a mental illness: Flowers for Algernon

10/24. Considering my goal was to complete 12/24 of these, I think I’m doing pretty damn well.

2016 Reading Resolutions:

  • Read 50 books – 25 completed. Right on track!
  • Complete at least half of the Read Harder reading challenge – 10/24 completed. Doing pretty good!
  • Pick up books because they interest me, not just because they’re super hyped – 24/25 books. Pretty good!
  • Put all my books together – pull from my living room, my bedroom and my parents’ house. Need them to be together! In one room! – Completed!
  • Get rid of books I disliked and/or will never reread again – Doing so periodically. Doing good!

I think this is the first year I’ve actually stuck to my goals for the most part. Maybe 2016 isn’t as weird as I thought (or maybe it’s weirder since I’m actually organized. I have no idea)

Book Buying Limit:

My limit is to buy 1 book for every five I read. Well, since posting the original post, I’ve read four book (nearly done with the fifth) and I’ve purchased… zero books! I’m sticking to it! Woot! I should be finishing my fifth book in the next couple days or so – I’m gonna go daydream about which book to buy, hawhaw.

And that’s it! All of the goals I set at the beginning of the year laid out. I’ll still be posting a June wrap-up and likely some kind of mid-year booktag or something. In the meantime, happy reading!!