Tag Archives: Goals

Top Ten Tuesday: 10 Bookish Goals for 2026

January 20, 2026Discussion Post, Lists, News and Fun2026, bookish goals, Goals, Lists, news, reading goals, Top Ten TuesdayKasey

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Goals for 2025

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s prompt is our bookish goals for 2026. Check out the other posts on Jana’s blog. I’m really interested to see other people’s posts.

I feel like I’ve posted some really intense goals for the last several years, and I’m not sorry. It helps me to focus and read books in areas I might otherwise neglect. But it also means I fill my reading calendar to overflowing in the rush to check off books on my reading list.

This year, I’m wondering if I can find a gentler approach that leaves me some flexibility while also giving my reading life a bit of structure. Here are the goals I came up with.

1. Read a poem every day.

I started this last year after reading Why We Read by Shannon Reed. She struggled to read poetry and felt bad about it, but discovered that one poem per day was a really sustainable pace for her. I tried this in 2025, and though I took a bit of a break this fall, it was very successful for me. Absolutely worth repeating this year. I got a few poetry books for myself this Christmas, so I’m armed and ready for this.

2. Connect with Other Bloggers/Reviewers

In 2025, I connected with some KidLit book bloggers who meet once per month for a Zoom chat and post on the Marvelous Middle Grade Monday, and It’s Monday, What Are You Reading weekly memes. It’s been so much fun to talk to other reviewers and bloggers about kidlit. We even have a quarterly book club meeting, so I get to talk to actual humans about a book we’ve all read. It’s heavenly. I’m excited to continue in 2026.

3. Finish Some Book Series

In 2024, I started using a Reading Tracker spreadsheet that I really like, so I now have a record of the series I’ve started and intend to finish. I’d love to pick a few from this list and prioritize catching up or finishing the whole series.

4. Journal Regularly

When my oldest daughter was little, we started a Mommy & Me Journal and wrote letters back and forth to one another. I still have the journal, and over the years, I’ve periodically written to her again in its pages. I think I’d like to keep doing that more deliberately this year and start writing to my littlest. I like the idea of leaving behind a record of memories and encouraging words for them to read someday.

5. Visit My Library

Over the summer last year, my daughter and I visited the library about once per week. It was a great way to get us out of the house and give us new books to read. When school started, we dropped back to visiting about once every two or three weeks, and I’d like to continue doing that.

6. Create a Bookish Workspace for Myself

For the last 10 years, I have worked at the dining room table using my laptop. Every evening, I have to pile up whatever I was working on and put it all away so we can use the table for dinner. (There are six of us in our house, so we need the whole table!) Over the summer, my partner and I crafted a plan to create a permanent workspace in the front room of our home. Some work/health/family hoopla tabled the project, but I’m excited to get started this year.

7. Preorder 12 Books in 2026

Preorder sales really help authors. While I want to be careful to read more of the books I actually own, I want to choose one book coming out each month this year and preorder it as a gift to my future self.

This is kind of a cheat goal since I preordered seven books on January first, to add to the two I’d already preordered for this year. Here’s what I have on preorder so far:

8. Read Books I Own

In previous years, I have used two reading challenges (Book Riot’s Read Harder and Austine Decker’s Beat the Backlist) to motivate myself to read books I already have on my shelves. The first year I did this, it really energized me to read books on my TBR. Last year, my approach to the challenges was more of an afterthought.

This year, I am going to try something different. I might try to jump into a couple of weekend readathons, or pick a small project for the month, like reading a certain author’s backlist or finishing a series.

9. Continue to Self-educate Through Reading

I don’t have a firm plan for this yet. It might be nice to feature one nonfiction book for each celebratory month (Black History Month, National Native American Heritage Month, Disability Awareness Month, PRIDE Month, etc.). That’s not the only time of year to read these books, but it might help me to have specific targets.

10. Notice What Excites Me About Reading

I like the idea of leaning into whatever is exciting me about reading. I read a wide range of genres, so this could take me all over the map. If I can pay attention to what’s energizing me as a reader, I think setting shorter-term goals, like reading a particular series I’m excited about or catching up on an author’s backlist, will be really fun.

What are your bookish goals for 2026?

I’d love to hear about your reading plans for this year. Are any of my goals similar to the ones on your list?

If goals are too structured or anxiety-inducing, leave a comment and let me know what bookish event (book release, conference, author event, book you want to read, etc.) you’re most looking forward to this year.

2024 Goals Recap: Stats and Updates

January 26, 2025Lists, News and Fun2024 goals, Goals, goals recap, reading goals, stats, updateKasey

My December plans got swallowed up by holiday celebrations and time spent with visiting family, but I’m back at my laptop and reviewing my reading and blogging progress from last year for this 2024 goals recap.

I started 2024 with ambitious goals and plans to make blogging a little easier and more joyful. As I’m looking back, it’s nice to see the places where I made significant progress. I read more books (261) than my stated goal (200). I even knocked out quite a few backlist titles (73) I’d really wanted to read.

If you’re looking for my favorites of last year, you’ll find them in this post of my top ten favorites from 2024. This post will focus on recapping goals and sharing my reading stats.

Here’s a quick breakdown of some facts and figures from my reading life in 2024. Prepare to geek out over charts with me!

Books Read in 2024 by Age Group

Since I’ve been blogging, the bulk of the books I read in a year are generally young adult books. This year, just over one-third were for a middle-grade audience. The biggest surprise is that I read fifteen books marketed toward adults. Most of those were nonfiction titles, but I think a couple of fiction titles slipped into the mix as well.

Types of Books I Read in 2024

While most of what I read in 2024 were full-length novels, I read a lot more nonfiction than I realized. Years ago, when I started prioritizing reading a little more nonfiction, my goal was to read one nonfiction title per month. This year, I read an average of five per month.

The poetry classification mostly refers to novels in verse, I think. I read one poetry collection. I’m hoping to read more poetry this year.

Frontlist vs. Backlist

Another goal I had in 2024 was to read some titles that had been languishing on my backlist reading list. (Books I wanted to read that came out before 2024.) I joined a couple of challenges and created a couple of reading lists that helped me focus on books I wanted to read. Audiobooks were a huge help here, too. A lot of the audiobooks I listened to were backlist titles. Altogether, I read 187 books published in 2024 and 73 published before that.

Format Breakdown

I was kind of all over the place with the formats of the books I read. A little over half were digital, which tracks since I’m still pretty divided about whether I prefer physical copies or ebooks. I love the ability to frequently flip quickly from one spot to another, like from where you’re reading to a map or character list, that you get in a physical book. But I love the convenience of ebooks. Oh, I finished my book, but I’m all cozy under the covers of my bed and it’s cold out there? No worries. I don’t have to get up, I can just start another ebook!

Goals Recap

Read Harder 2024 Challenge

2024 was my second year participating in Book Riot’s Read Hard(er) challenge. The prompts help me read more inclusively and have led me to books I sincerely enjoyed. I completed 23 out of 24 of the challenge prompts. The only one I missed was about reading a book by an author and then attending an event (in person or online) with them. I signed up for a few virtual author events, but something always prevented me from going. I love that idea, though, so I may try to do some virtual events this year.

Beat the Backlist Challenge

For the second year in a row, I also joined the Beat the Backlist challenge hosted by Austine Decker. I completed 41 out of 52 prompts, which I’m calling a win. I read 73 books published before 2024, so the challenge definitely helped me get to some of the titles that had been on my reading list for a while.

Read the Top Ten Most Frequently Challenged Books Project

Oof. Okay, so I had planned to write a post during Banned Books Week in September to highlight the top ten most frequently challenged books of 2023 and talk about book banning in general. I didn’t finish reading all the books on the list in time, and frankly, I started to doubt how helpful a post like that would be. Though I still have mixed feelings, I want to continue reading banned books so I’m informed about specific titles. I want to pair that effort with action that helps challenge book bans more directly, so I’m considering connecting those two projects for 2025.

By the end of the year, I managed to read all ten most frequently challenged books. I suspect some of the same titles will appear on the list this year, so maybe that will give me more time to find the right focus for the project this year.

Community Goals

One of the things I hoped to do in 2024 was post more lists and participate in a bookish community in some way. I was inconsistent with my list posts, especially this past fall. That was disappointing, but I’m shaking off the dust of that defeat and ready to try again this year.

I found a group of KidLit bloggers that do monthly virtual meet-ups, and that’s been truly an incredible experience. It’s so much fun to talk to people who read KidLit and want to talk about them, plus understand the ins and outs of running a blog. I’ve had a great time at every event I’ve attended. We’re starting a spin-off quarterly book club, and I’m super excited about that, too.

I’m still struggling to manage my review schedule and book hoard, but I sent several boxes of books to a detention center I heard about via Sentences Book Donations and a few more to a charity collecting books for Western North Carolina after Hurricane Helene. I feel good about that and will donate more books this year. I’m working on a blog post about places to send books for donation, so keep an eye out for that soon!

Process Goals

Some of my goals for 2024 had to do with my processes of selecting which books to review and managing the number of books that I keep versus give away after reading them. I found mixed success here.

Regarding which books I reviewed, I started noting which books I received that I requested versus books that I did not request. (These usually come from publishers I’ve worked with before.) That helped me prioritize the books I specifically asked to read and review and fit in the unsolicited ones when I had extra time.

I’ve tweaked that process a bit this year, making more small changes that I hope will help me be more organized. I feel pretty good about it.

I also used more of the stats and information in the reading tracker spreadsheet I used again last year. (That’s where the chart info above came from!) I’m happy with that and looking forward to continuing with the spreadsheet in 2025.

What goals did you meet for 2024?

Did you set reading goals for yourself for last year? If so, were you successful in meeting them? Leave a comment and let me know how you did.

If you posted a 2024 goals recap, please leave me a link to your post below!

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Goals for 2025

January 14, 2025Lists, News and Fun2025, Beat the Backlist Reading Challenge, bookish goals, Goals, Read Harder ChallengeKasey

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Goals for 2025

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s topic is a really great one: bookish goals for 2025!

FIRST OF ALL. Did you see this adorable artwork of me and my two cats that Senny designed for me? You can find her on Instagram at @sennydoesarty. She’s amazing. I can’t recommend her enough. I am redesigning my blog banner to include these images, but it’s taking me forever, and I can’t wait any longer to share them.

This year, I plan to repeat some of the same reading challenges that I’ve been part of before. It does seem to help me read backlist titles more consistently, and it’s fun to look for books that meet each prompt.

Organization is still a goal, but I’m struggling to clarify what that looks like for me. I’m having a hard time keeping up with the clutter in general, and having a ton of books coming in and out of the house for review doesn’t help that, but I haven’t hit on a great solution yet.

At any rate, here is my list of goals.

Bookish Goals for 2025

1. Beat the Backlist Reading Challenge

This will be my third year participating in the Beat the Backlist Reading Challenge, hosted by Austine Decker. This one REALLY helped me tackle backlist titles. In 2023, my first year doing the challenge, I read about 30 books from my backlist TBR. Last year, I read more than 60. (I probably added double that to my reading list, so I’m still making negative progress toward reading all the books, but hey… there are worse problems to have!)

2. Book Riot’s Read Hard(er) 2025 Reading Challenge

Read Hard(er) is another challenge that I tracked last year and really enjoyed. I like that it helped me make more inclusive reading choices and think about the topics in the books I was reading. I’m excited about doing this challenge again this year, and some of the prompts for the Read Harder 2025 Challenge look awesome.

Reading diversely has been a longterm goal, and this list helps me pick books purposefully and broadly.

3. Read 200 Books

Last year my goal was to read 200 books, and I’m sticking with that for this year. It’s a comfortable goal for the amount of time I’m able to read.

4. Read 3-5 More Classics/Critically Acclaimed Books, Especially Those by Marginalized Authors

This is part of an ongoing quest to read more inclusively. There are a lot of great writers and stories that didn’t make it into my (very white) public school education, so it’s time to make up some ground. Topping my list at this moment: James Baldwin and Octavia Butler.

5. Feature Books in More Themed Lists

I love sharing reviews, but I am not sure those are the most helpful posts about books. I love reading lists about different kinds of books: great books about summer camp, or kids in foster care, or kids going to a magic school. I’d like to write more list posts like that this year.

6. Continue Using a Reading Tracker Spreadsheet

I spent some time customizing the reading tracker spreadsheet I’ve been using, and I’d like to tweak it even more this year. I love having interesting stats and reminders and reading challenge progress all in one place. The original sheet came from a blog called Addicted to Romance. The blog no longer exists but you can find the blogger on Instagram.

7. Donate More Books and Support Bookish Charities

I can’t keep all the books I review, and even if I could, what good are they sitting on my shelf? I want to find homes where they’ll be read and enjoyed. This year, I’m going to try to send out one box of books or make a monetary donation to a bookish charity each month.

8. Take Reading Breaks When Necessary and Stop Feeling Guilty About It

This year, I had several periods when I couldn’t keep up with my reading plans. Sometimes, it was because I was unwell. Other times, I was just so busy that by the time I sat down at the end of the day, I fell asleep. Stress and anxiety played a role as well.

I spent a lot of time worrying about the authors and publishers I was letting down by falling behind on my reading. A few noticed and sent emails. Some may have noticed and not said anything. Others probably didn’t notice at all.

This is another reason I’d like to get better at list posts as a way to talk about books when I don’t have the time or energy to read them all.

9. Connect with Other Bloggers/Reviewers

I’ve had a great time connecting with other Kidlit reviewers this past year, and I’d like to continue that into this coming year. I set up a link on my home page to click into WordPress Reader and keep up with my blogging friends’ posts easily.

10. Read a poem every day.

Poetry is an art form that I don’t feel well informed about or very good at reading, and I’d like to broaden my experience with it and deepen my ability to understand it. In one of the books I read this year (Why We Read by Shannon Reed), the author had a similar struggle and decided to read one poem per day. She found it a much more manageable amount of poetry to consume at a time and a helpful habit. I’ll give it a try and see if it works for me.

What are your bookish goals for 2025?

I’d love to hear about your reading plans for this year. Are any of my goals similar to the ones on your list?

Mid-Year Reading Check-in and July Reading Scramble

July 12, 2024Blogger's Favorites, Discussion Post, News and FunBeat the Backlist, check-in, classics, Goals, mid-year reading scramble, readathonKasey

Mid-Year Reading Check-in and July Reading Scramble

The summer is flying by this year, but I wanted to make time to pause for a moment and check in on the goals I set for the year. I’m also doing a Mid-year Reading Scramble with The Word N3rd this month, so I’ll post my catch-up reading plans as well.

This whole year has been packed with unexpected challenges and changes so far. From health things to stuff with my girls, I have struggled to keep up with reading and blogging more than in previous years. While I try my best not to stress about my goals, it does help to have things quantified and written down so that I can look back and note the progress I made.

Goals for 2024

To see my full list of goals for the year, check out my Bookish Goals for 2024 post. Otherwise, grab a drink and let’s get down to it.

Goal: Beat the Backlist Reading Challenge

There are 52 optional prompts in the Beat the Backlist Reading Challenge. So far, I’ve completed 20 of them. Not quite half, but not too shabby, if I say so myself. Last year I completed 19 out of 24 prompts, so I’m tracking at that same pace so far this year. Highlights from the challenge? Glad you asked!

I’ve ended up reading several titles that have been on my reading list for YEARS, and I’ve mostly enjoyed them. The audiobook version of The Color Purple is amazing– it’s got some explicit abuse, so read carefully– I imagine this won’t be the only time I listen to the story. It’s a powerful story.

I finally read Nimona because my daughter wanted to watch the movie, and I prefer to read the book first if possible. I loved it, and having seen the movie now, too, I think it captures the heart of the story really well even if some of the events play out a bit differently.

A friend had given me a copy of The Hazel Wood years ago, and I kept promising myself I’d read it. While waiting on a hold through my library, I noticed that the audiobook version of this one was available, so I dove in. And, wow. It’s not the story I expected, but I got lost in the twisty, dark fairytales and the quest to bring family back together.

Goal: Read Harder Reading Challenge

I’m also working on the Read Hard(er) Challenge by Book Riot, which has 24 prompts. At this point, I’ve completed 13 of them, which is right on track. Here are a few favorites…

Killers of the Flower Moon was an impulse read. My library had the audiobook version, and the title was too intriguing to pass up. It opened up a chapter of history I knew almost nothing about (thank you, Florida education system) and completely blew me away. I highly recommend it.

Black Girl You Are Atlas was on my reading list, and in fact, I already owned the ebook version because I love Renée Watson and will read anything she writes. The poems are powerful and inspiring, and the collage illustrations are absolutely breathtaking.

Conditions of a Heart is a contemporary romance about a girl with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, which I wasn’t familiar with. The story explores Brynn’s experience navigating high school life and relationships and her conflicting feelings about talking to others about her disability.

Goal: Read 200 Books

I’m totally on track for this. As of the end of June, I’d read almost 140 books this year. I’ve had a wacky year with some health stuff coming up and parenting challenges, so I’m pretty proud to have read so many. About 20 I read as audiobooks, and another 20 are graphic novels, so that does make it a little easier to keep this kind of pace.

Goal: Read 3-5 More Classics, Especially by Women or BIPOC

This has been another ongoing project for me. There are a ton of classic works that I simply haven’t read, and I’d like to add a few to the list of those I’ve read each year. Here’s what I’ve read this year besides The Color Purple, which I talked about already.

Wuthering Heights was a reread for me since I read it in high school. I remember that I didn’t like it then, but I didn’t like Pride and Prejudice when I read it in school, either, and it’s a favorite now. I gave it another chance, and I’m sorry to say it’s still a massive nope for me. Too many people abuse one another around a narrator who is powerless to stop them.

This year I read Sense and Sensibility for the first time. It was a little confusing, since I’m fairly familiar with the BBC movie version, so I actually listened to the audiobook more than once because some scenes happened so differently than the movie shows. I enjoyed it a lot, though. When I’m not reading Austen, I always forget how funny she is.

Another classic on my reading list for a LONG time is I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. I listened to the audiobook version read by the author, and wow. She writes so emotively about how children think and perceive things. The book describes a time in history that I don’t think I’ve ever read about from a Black author’s perspective– which seems wild to me. (More thanks, Florida education system.)

Goal: Donate Books and Manage the Book Hoard

I think I’ve actually been doing okay with these goals this year. I’ve sent five or six boxes of books to a juvenile detention center through information posted on Sentences Book Donations Facebook page. I’ve donated a few bags of books to my local library as well.

Sorting the book hoard is still a work in progress. I’m close to having a good system for books coming in and going out. I need a basket or designated spot for books I plan to send to a JD center. Once school starts up again, I’ll probably do one more pass through the collection to weed out things I’m ready to let go of, and I’ll have at least one more box or two to donate to the juvenile facility. Then I think I’ll call that goal met.

Mid-Year Reading Scramble with The Word N3rd

I heard about the Mid-year Reading Scramble through Alex at Pucks and Paperbacks channel on YouTube. Since I’ve got a few books that I’m desperate to work into my schedule this month anyway, it seemed like a great way to boost my motivation, get some accountability, and maybe meet some more bookish people. Triple win.

If you want to know more about the Reading Scramble, check out this announcement video from The Word N3rd.

Here are a few of the books on my catch-up list.

There are two titles from Wednesday books on my list as well. I’d also like to read The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, Unbecoming by Seema Yasmin, and The Loudest Silence by Sydney Langford.

How is your reading going this year?

If you set goals for yourself, how are you doing? Are you doing any reading challenges or readathon events? Let me know what you’re reading and if you’ve read any of the books I mentioned in this post.

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Goals for 2024

January 16, 2024Lists, News and FunGoals, goals for 2024, reading challenges, reading goals, TBR, Top Ten TuesdayKasey

Bookish Goals for 2024

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s topic is a really great one– bookish goals for 2024!

Last year I posted this extensive list of goals, some ambitious and some that were pretty reasonable considering my blogging life. At the end of December, I posted an update on my success in meeting those goals.

With all that in mind, I decided to take a slightly different approach to my goal-setting this year. Here are eight bookish goals I’ve set for myself in 2024.