I don’t really “do” resolutions, because I think they’re these horribly flimsy things that have the tendency to buckle under scrutiny. So really, what we have here is a list of hopes and wishes for 2022.
Now, that’s not to say that they also won’t buckle under scrutiny. That’s definitely not what I’m saying at all. I mean, obviously I’d like to meet my goals, but ha, if I’ve learned anything from 2020, it’s that the world tends not to care about what I’d like and it keeps throwing curveballs anyway!
The way I handle goals is a little bit different. When I make goals, I make three tiers: low, flex, and stretch. Low is the bare minimum that I think I can hit, yet still a pretty solid goal. Flex is what I’d consider a medium-tier goal, something I could maybe hit with a bit more effort. Stretch is a goal that is likely unattainable but gosh would it sure be cool if I could hit it!
So with that in mind, my “resolutions” will have three tiers to them. Why? Because I like being extra. What can I say? I’ve also found that small wins add up, and that I feel more motivated being able to hit one goal and then keep going, rather than having one solid goalpost that never changes and never pushes me.
Before we get to 2022’s bookish resolutions, though, let’s take a look at how well I did with 2021’s resolutions!
2021 Resolution Wrap-Up
So last year, I posted by 2021 Bookish Resolutions and included seven different goals that I wanted to achieve that year. I tried to keep them modest, because I knew I’d be starting grad school and wasn’t sure how I’d fare with them. So let’s see how I did!
Read 100 Books
I actually read 190 books in 2021, which means I blew right past my low goal of 100, through my flex goal of 150, and I even beat my stretch goal of 175! I had thought grad school would greatly hamper my ability to read, and it did to some extent. However, I hadn’t expected to take a Children’s Lit class, which accounted for over 20 middle grade books being read over that semester.
Catch Up on Outstanding ARCs
This goal sort of fell by the wayside. Something had to be cut in order to squeeze everything in this year, and unfortunately, this was it. I ended up reading 22 ARCs from NetGalley last year, though very few of those were technically outstanding. I stopped requesting ARCs in early 2021 when it became clear that I just wasn’t going to be able to keep up with them, but I still have quite a few to go back and catch up on!
Read More Owned Books
I . . . actually didn’t really track this? Why? I have no idea. I did really good in 2021 in terms of buying new books, but I don’t think that’s what I had in mind with this resolution! So I’m going to call this one a failure. I have no idea how many owned books I actually read, but I’m fairly certain it wasn’t as many as I wanted to. And even if it was? I brought in so many new owned books that I obviously just didn’t take this resolution seriously.
Continue Making Blog Posts Every Week
I’m going to call this a sort-of win. When I made this resolution, I was expecting grad school to be similar to when I was in college. It is not. So looking back, expecting two posts a week was extremely unrealistic, and I just didn’t have the energy or bandwidth to post as often as I’d like. So I’m not going to beat myself up too much about not making this one.
Get New Blog Followers
When I wrote my blog post last year, I was at 513 followers on my blog, which still astounds me. Why would that many people want to read what I have to say?! I don’t get it. Yet, here we are, a year later, and I’ve got 610 followers! That means I was just shy of my flex goal of 100 new followers, but with how inactive I’ve been in the blogging scene this year, I’m going to count that as a major win. It still blows my mind!
Post on Instagram/Pinterest Regularly and Use Kal’s Glorious Spreadsheet
Yeeeeah . . . neither of these happened. It was again a matter of time. I still absolutely love Kal’s Ultimate Book Blogger/Reader Spreadsheet and highly recommend everyone use it (she has a 2022 version up here). When it came down to cutting things to be able to manage my hectic workload, I decided these were nice-to-haves but not ultimately necessary. So I cut them. It was an incredibly important thing for me to learn how to do, and this year, going in, I’m not even going to bother attempting them.
2021 Significant Life Events
Because no year wrap-up would be complete without a summary of what went on with my life, right? It’s also handy to keep these in mind when I look back at what I accomplished (or failed to) in regards to my goals.
- My grandfather passed away at 89. He basically raised me and we were super close. Unfortunately, end of life was really rough. I have a fantastic boss who let me work around his schedule because he was constantly needing support and trips to the doctor/ER, and that basically occupied all of my free time for the first half of the year. Probate still hasn’t ended and his estate isn’t settled yet, and this has been such a rough experience emotionally. I’ve always had depression (runs in my family, too), so this has been an ongoing struggle for me.
- I started grad school! Duh! I’m getting my Master’s in Library Science. Because I didn’t want it to drag out forever, I decided to fast track it, which means I’ll graduate in three semesters rather than four. Saves a bit of money and trouble that way. Also means I had to take four classes a semester, so the workload is a bit overwhelming!
- I became the assistant director of the public library I work at. In some ways, this is a dream come true. Though, if I’m honest, I never imagined librarianship as an actual legitimate career, so it’s come as a bit of a surprise for me. Still, this is basically the job of a lifetime and I’m so fortunate to have it!
- I’ve been participating in some research about diversity in children’s books, and I absolutely love it! I never imagined I would be one of those “research” people. You know the type. Very academic. Smart. Concerned with statistics and numbers. *shudders* I had the opportunity, though, so I went for it and applied. The experience so far has been absolutely amazing, and I’m surprised to find that I would love to continue to conduct research even as Director. I never associated public library directorship with being a position that would include research in that way, but there are so many ways public libraries can benefit from research, and I’d love to continue to participate in that aspect of the field.
2022 Bookish Resolutions
So without further ado, let’s get to what I hope to accomplish this year!
Read at least 100 books
Low: 100 books | Flex: 150 books | Stretch: 200 books
I decided to just keep this simple and copy it from last year but change my stretch goal a bit. I know for certain already that I’ll be in Young Adult Literature this semester, so that’s a guaranteed 12 books. Plus I’ve already read 8 books already. So that’s a good 20 books under my belt right there! Also, I’m trying to keep in mind that I’ll be graduating in May of 2022, so that should hopefully free up a little more time for reading. *crosses fingers*
Catch up on outstanding NetGalley reviews/books
Low: 10 books | Flex: 20 books | Stretch: 30 books
I still like the idea of this goal, except at this point, I’ll be either buying the outstanding books or borrowing them from my library, because most of them have been released already (save for a few early 2022 releases that are still upcoming). Since I made the commitment to read and review them, I still plan on doing that, even if I missed the release date. I feel bad about that, but I can’t change it. What I can do is still read and review them anyway!
Read more owned books
I’m not even going to assign numbers to this goal, because let’s be honest . . . I’m not going to track this anyway. I currently have shelves overflowing with books, though, so if I meet this goal, it’ll become apparent. You know, because I should maybe have room for all my books for a change! I’ve been really freaking good (almost professional, even) at buying new books. Need to work on the reading ones I already have thing, though. So now seems like a good time for it!
Utilize the library more
Low: 25 books | Flex: 50 books | Stretch: 100 books
In 2021, I read 50 books that I borrowed from the library. This one goes with my previous resolution. I don’t want to keep bringing books into this house that I don’t read! So instead of buying more books, I hope to just go ahead and borrow books when I feel like reading them. I’ve got my local library plus OverDrive and also an out-of-state membership to Brooklyn Public Library to use their OverDrive, so most books are available through one of those libraries at this point. There are still some books I want to read that I’ll need to buy regardless, but hopefully this’ll cut down on that!
Read backlist books
Low: 15 books | Flex: 30 books | Stretch: 50 books
I do this thing. You know the one. Where a new, shiny book finds its way onto my TBR and I absolutely desperately need to read that right this minute and I promptly forget all the other backlist books I’ve been meaning to read. Since there are always and forever new books releasing, this cycle continues. Always and forever. So my goal this year is to read more backlist books. You know, like T.J. Klune and John Gwynne and T. Kingfisher and all the others whose new books I absolutely love and I keep saying I’m going to go back and read the others and haven’t yet lol.
Keep on blogging
I’m not going to set any specific goals for this, either, because I feel like that’s just going to set myself up for failure. I’m just going to say make an effort to blog regularly, whatever that looks like. If life gets chaotic and hectic, I’m going to give myself permission to not post every week, because that’s realistic.
Graduate grad school!!!
This isn’t technically a bookish resolution, but it kind of is since I’m doing library science? But still. I’m so freaking excited to graduate, and I consider that a big goal for this year! So I’m counting it.
Sounds like some very realistic goals <3
You know, sometimes just *feeling* like you read more owned books can be super helpful, even if you don’t track the numbers. I know it makes me feel more productive, anyway. And then I get less annoyed at myself, and I stress less, and I get fewer reading slumps. So I say don’t worry about tracking the numbers! 😀
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You did amazing with last year’s goals. Honestly, even though you didn’t hit all of them, know that you did great. Good luck with this year’s goals, I’m sure you will do as well as last year if not better. This year I am trying to use my library more as well, something I haven’t done in many many years because I own so many books that I still haven’t read.
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