Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish
Top Ten Bookish Goals for 2014!
Reading 1 – 5:
1. Stick to my new “Read 4, Buy 1” rule to A. Save more money and B. Enjoy the thousands of books I already own and C. Make me more selective of what I bring home.
2. Read only the books I’m most excited about, rather than the ones I feel obligated to read.
3. Continue streamlining my book collection, getting rid of everything I won’t read within the next ten years.
4. Stop worrying about how many books and series I have in progress and just enjoy whatever has caught my interest at the moment.
5. Limit my Netgalley and Edelweiss requests to only the special ones, thereby furthering the intent of goal #1.
Writing 6 – 10:
6. Finish the first draft of my novel by January 31.
7. Finish the final draft by March 31.
8. Write and submit a short story for WOTF.
9. Work on a writing project every single day – even if it only a ten minute scene outline.
10. Start working on my current novel’s sequel (much later in the year, of course).
I’ve always been a person who enjoys setting and achieving goals, but have never had new year resolutions. I always do everything I set my mind to, but it will be interesting to see how I handle a specific timeframe. Wish me luck!
What are your 2014 resolutions? Are any of them bookish?
The Obsessive Bookseller 
Oh my gosh… you just inspired me to do this TTT as well. I wasn’t sure what I was going to as I haven’t really got into the swing of things yet!
You are brilliant! Keep up the great blog and I am interested to know more about your novel! I am also busy with one too and hope to make some progress on it this year <3
Chanzie @ Mean Who You Are.
PS do you have a blog button??
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I am an ultimate fail for not getting back to you sooner – sorry! I’m glad you did this top ten Tuesday because I really enjoyed reading about the goals you set for yourself – it looks like we have a lot of similar aspirations. I am super curious about your novel too, have you done a post on it or anything?
No, I don’t have a blog button yet… I really need to get moving on that ha ha :-)
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All the best to achieving your resolutions!
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Thank you you as well :-)
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Last year I tried for a goal very similar to your first one (I think i went for 3:1) and I failed miserably about a month in. I hope you can do better than I did! Good luck with all of your goals!!
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Thank you – I really hope I can hang in there! This month is kind of been a bust, but only because I got lots of gift cards for my birthday so I’ve been spending those on books.It doesn’t count against me if I’m not spending from my pocket… Right? :-)
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Great list and very organized! My personal bookish goals are to learn how to write screenplay (then write one!) and explore writing creative nonfiction. Wishing you luck!
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Oh thank you! Those are lofty (yet awesome) goals, and actually quite similar to what my husband wants to do this year. I hope you get to have fun with them both – good luck!
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Love the list! good luck with all your resolutions :)
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Thank you and ditto :-)
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This is a great list! Streamlining is always difficult. I try to keep my tbr to just one shelf (although it’s not doing so well post-Christmas) and then weed out any books that I don’t think I would ever re-read. Good luck with your goals!
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I admire your restraint because my TBR grew beyond one shelf at least ten years ago… I’m also having a difficult time getting rid of books I know I’m never going to reread. I wish you the best of luck with your goals as well!
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Wow, way to set goals for writing. Good luck!
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Thank you! I’m definitely going to need it :-)
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I love your goals! Especially #1 … I wish that was something I could do, but I don’t see it happening anytime soon. (&working a bookstore definitely doesn’t help, either!)
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Finally – Somebody who knows what I’m going through! I don’t know if I’m going to be able to stick through it because like you, I’m surrounded by temptations all week long… I read a meme once that basically compared that to letting an alcoholic work in a bar… Not so good for recovery LOL.
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That is *absolutely* what it is! I just brought a new book home tonight! Did I need it? Nooooo. Am I currently reading a book? Yesssss. Do I have hundreds of books at home TBR? Yesssss. Do I care? Nooooo. Haha. We have a problem.
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Hahaha – I prefer to call it a healthy obsession… Or research for our line of work. That’s what it is: research. :-)
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I love your book goals. I’m approaching the same objective differently. My goal is to finish every book series I’ve started with only one book left to read; tracking books in Goodreads. Plus read all books that I have agreed to review. (Total that’s 28 books).
But I like your idea of just reading what is most attractive to you at the time. I’ve been feeling imprisoned by my TBR list and I just want to read some “fun” books instead of what I should be reading. So with that in mind, I’ve also started letting go of book series. if it is just okay, I’m trying not to feel compelled to finish the series, I’m going to put them at the bottom of the list. Next year or two years from now, those “ok” series might grab me more but right now I want to read books that inspire my love of reading. I am totally in sync with you on that goal!
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That is a lot of books, and I imagine I have a somewhat similar number. I find it really bothers me too have not finished a series that I’ve started (especially ones that I liked!). I have a difficult time letting go of one’s I’m not enjoying and really admire the fact that you’re making progress with that. Knocking it to the bottom of the list seems like an awesome idea because all probably never will it down enough to get to it again anyway!
What I’ve been doing lately to help me read only the books that excite me the most is not thinking about what book I “should be reading” next, so when I need a new book I “shop” my bookshelves and grab about ten books that sound appealing at that moment (sometimes there’s serious conclusions, sometimes not). Then I proceed to einie minie miney moe the shortlist until I’m left with one title. For some stupid reason it has totally taken all the pressure off of what to read next and I don’t pick up books based on last week’s plan (because I find what I’m in the mood to read changes constantly). I hope we can both keep from reading any obligation books this year! :-)
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