Bookish Musings: My 2017 Bookish Goals

 
 

Hurrah, it’s the new year! We made it to 2017, guys! And the new year means it’s time for some new bookish goals.

As I explained last year, I don’t do New Year’s resolutions. They tend to backfire. Goals, however, are always a good thing πŸ™‚ And since reading/blogging is my hobby, I tend to think of these more as guidelines to keep myself reminded of what I want to read and do with my blog rather than goals to stress over, but goals sounds a lot simpler πŸ˜›

So anyway, here are my bookish goals for the new year!


My 2017 Bookish Goals

1. Read At Least 100 Books

I’ve once again set my number somewhat low so that I won’t get stressed out. But still, 100 is a good number, I think.

2. Expand My Repertoire of Supernatural/Paranormal Creature Reads

I had this same goal last year, and I did manage to add some new creatures to my list, but there are still so many uncommon supernatural/paranormal creatures to read about, like gargoyles, trolls, hellhounds, dryads, selkies, banshees, harpies, goblins, gnomes, wendigos, kitsune… I do have books for some of these, so we’ll see if I actually get to them!

3. Learn More about Supernatural Creature Lore and Origins

This was also a goal of mine last year, but one I completely failed at. It’s just, I read so much about supernatural creatures in novels that I think it’s be interesting to learn where they came from, what they’re believed to be like, etc.

4. Read More Retellings

This is another goal I had last year, but I didn’t do very well with it. I want some actual retellings, not just books that have a character from the original in them or something like that. But unique retellings with twists and whatnot. Or different genres. Or genderbent. Or LGBT. And I want to find retellings of less common stories. There are so many Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty and Alice in Wonderland retellings, for example, but not so many for Rapunzel or Greek mythology or the Pied Piper. You feel me?

5. Work on My Own Writing

I honestly don’t know if this will happen, especially now that I have wrist/arm problems and have to moderate my computer time. And I’m aware that I’m making excuses and that if I really wanted to, I would just force myself to sit down and write. But I admit it’s not my priority at the moment. However, I do plan to write some books eventually. I have some that are pretty well planned out already with just certain issues that are tripping me up, so maybe this year I’ll be able to get some writing in.

6. Finally Read Certain Books I’ve Been Wanting to Read

I think this one is self-explanatory, so here are some of the books on that list…

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater | reading, books
The Palace Job by Patrick Weekes | reading, books
Chaos Station by Jenn Burke & Kelly Jensen | reading, books
Monster by Soren Summers | reading, books
Interview with the Vampire: Claudia's Story by Anne Rice & Ashley Marie Witter | reading, books
 

7. Do More Author Interviews/Guest Posts

I did my first author interview last year, and it was fun! I love getting to learn more about books/series directly from the authors, like information about the world, their favorite scenes or takes on characters, etc.

8. Finish Some Damn Series

I think this one is also self-explanatory lol. I’m, no joke, in the middle of over 40 series at this point. But some of them do have all the books out, and others I’m crossing my fingers will be completed this year. Of course I’ll end up adding more to the list during the year though, so this is really just an uphill battle.

9. Maybe Do Some Rereads

I already plan to reread Lexi Blake’s Thieves series since I’ve kind of turned that into an annual thing, but there are some other books and series that I think I’d like to reread too. I was looking for quotes from books the other day, and it just really got me itching to reread certain books/series that I’ve kind of forgotten but still remember enough to know I loved them. It’s just hard to give myself permission to reread when I’m always stressing about review copies.

10. Read the Older Review Copies I Have

To be fair, none of them are more than a year old since I only started accepting review copies last year, but I still feel kinda bad about the ones I received earlier in the year that kinda got neglected when I prioritized the newer ones.

11. Keep Blogging

This one seems kind of duh, but even in the year and a half that I’ve been blogging, I’ve seen quite a few bloggers, including some I really liked and connected with, fade away from the blogosphere. So I know that realistically it does happen and could happen to me one day if life gets in the way. But I don’t want it to happen, not yet at least, and that’s why it’s my goal to stick around for another year! And all of you’d better still be here in 2018 too!

 
 
 
 

Talk to me!

What are YOUR 2017 bookish goals?
Do we have any in common?

 
 
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38 thoughts on “Bookish Musings: My 2017 Bookish Goals

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  1. Prabhleen

    I really want to finish my book this year. I wrote 7K in November and I don’t really think that’s much. IT IS BEEN A LONG TIME AND I WANT TO WRITE IT ASAP. I am just putting 60 books on my goal for this year, although I read 119 in 2016. I just want to give my writing and my blog a bigger priority than reading, and want to get up a review for every book that I read πŸ™‚ I love all of your goals! Hopefully you will be able to achieve them!!

    1. Kristen Burns

      7K is something at least! It’s more than I have lol. That’s a good plan to shoot for less reading in order to focus on writing and blogging. I’m just not quite ready to prioritize my reading lower yet, there are too many books I’m dying to read! Thank you πŸ˜€

  2. Greg

    I don’t do resolutions either, something about that word makes them backfire. πŸ™‚ Like you, I want to read more paranormal creatures. And since that meshes with my goal to read more UF this year, hopefully that will happen. I do have certain creatures I’d like to see- gargoyles (some scary ass ones), selkies are always good (read Tides!) banshees too. Some really nasty ancient fae thing lol- I guess there’s a pattern here. πŸ™‚ Wndigos and other Native american paranormals too.

    I don’t do a lot of retellings but I do hear you on Greek myths (or any myths). I’d like to see them brought into the modern day somehow- in a plausible way. The Immortals s a little gritty and I think you’d like it. And it’s got the Greek stuff plus ritual killings- what’s not to like? πŸ™‚

    Lol about #8 – yup.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Maybe we’ll both manage to read about some more creatures this year! I think I have Tides on my TBR. To be honest it might be the only book I know of with selkies lol. I actually know of one book with a wendigo as a main character, I just have to find it on my list and decide about buying it.

      I would love more Greek mythology retellings. I’m trying to plan on one myself but I’m still trying to figure out whether to make it modern day and how to do it exactly. Lol, well, as long as the book has ritual killings, that’s really all you need πŸ˜›

      Ugh, I really need to find some completed series to binge-read and stop ending up in the middle of so many.

  3. La La in the Library

    That’s wonderful about finding out more lore and background on paranormal creatures. I hope you will share some of what you learn in posts. I want to get more writing done this year, too. My Wattpad serialization has been sitting at two chapters for a long time. I am also going to start playing guitar again, so we shall see how all that goes. Ha ha. It is like I think I can add more hours to the day.

    I hope you enjoy Interview With the Vampire. It was the very first vampire book I read. I loved and adored the first two books. The third was just okay for me. I think I started the fourth one and couldn’t finish it, but that was so long ago, I don’t remember. I also hope you enjoy the Raven Cycle books. It is one of my top favorite YA series.

    I am going to be doing a bit of re-reading and older ARC catching up myself!

    1. Kristen Burns

      Maybe I’ll make some posts about different creatures if I do actually manage to accomplish my goal this time! Ooh guitar, cool! I’d love to work on learning to draw better but I don’t foresee that happening. I also need some more hours in the day lol.

      It’s actually Interview with the Vampire: Claudia’s Story, the graphic novel, that’s on my list. Interview was the first vampire I read too πŸ™‚ I also must’ve loved it since I read the entire series in high school, aside from the two most recent books, but I don’t remember them either since it was like nine years ago. I’m very much looking forward to the Raven Cycle though!

      I guess we have some similar goals πŸ™‚

  4. verushka

    Those are some wonderful goals, they really are. And those books you have pictured are new to me, so score! New authors to investigate. I have been wondering about doing a challenge, but I don’t know if I have the discipline to stick with it. Hm. Something to ponder.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thanks! One of those books on my list was a personal rec, so even I wouldn’t have heard of it otherwise lol. Official challenges just sound stressful to me, but you could always just make some less strict goals to aim for!

  5. Lola

    I also set some goals for 2017, goals sounds better than resolutions. My goal post will be live later this week. It’s fun to see what your goals are for 2017! I set my total goal on 80, but I really hope to get to the 100. I am looking forward to hear what kind of new creatures you’ll read about this year.

    I think I have a book about the Pied Piper if I remember correctly, it’s MG though and I don’t think you read that. I don’t read a lot of retellings as it’s not really a genre for me, but I do agree that some stories seem much more common than others. There’s this author that writes sci-fi retellings on whose arc list I am, so I do plan to read those at least.

    You could always give dictations a try for your writing. I remember the short story you shared on your blog once and I enjoyed that one. So I hope you ca get some writing done this year.

    Oh and the Raven Boys, everyone seems to enjoy that series. Will be interesting to hear what you think of it. I don’t re-read a lot of books, but there are some books i would like to re-read.

    I decided to focus on the ewer review copies as I seem to do better with that than the older ones, but I am hoping I can read some older ones too. Maybe once I don’t make it a goal it goes better, lol.

    Good luck with your goals and I hope 2017 will be a great year!

    1. Kristen Burns

      I’m looking forward to seeing your goals this week πŸ™‚ And lol, we all set our GR challenge low, I think. I set it as 100, but the past two years I’ve ended up with over 150, and I’d kind of like to reach that again, though I’d still be happy with 100.

      You’re right that I don’t often read middle grade, but that’s ok, I either have some books about the Pied Piper or have them on my TBR. I do remember your reviews for the sci-fi Little Mermaid retelling and stuff, I think those or on my list too.

      Dictation is a great idea, but not one that I think would work for me. Like, the way my brain thinks when I’m writing, I pause too much, I go back and change things mid-sentence, stuff like that. It’s hard to explain, but I’ve tried using dictation or just recording my voice to type later when I wasn’t able, and it’s never worked for me. But typing doesn’t seem to be hurting me as much anymore. I think it’s mostly using the mouse. But still, I know that writing just isn’t my priority at the moment, even though I have been kind of itching to do some. And thank you for the compliment on my story <3

      Yes, I don't read a lot of popular series, but it's one that I think I might actually like, and it's available as ebooks from my library, so I'm going to give it a try πŸ™‚

      Lol there's a thought. Reverse psychology, not making something a goal so that maybe you'll actually do it.

      Thank you, and yes, hopefully it will be a great year!

  6. chucklesthescot

    There are not enough wendigos out there! I love that kind of monster! I hope to be covering a lot of these monsters in various posts through the year where we can share book recs and see more of what we like. I feel your pain on those unfinished series. I haven’t posted my aims for series for the year as I can’t decide what to put on the list yet! You won’t be getting rid of me from blogging either as I’m just finding my groove! Your tbr will NOT be safe! Nice list of aims and I wish you lots of luck!

    1. Kristen Burns

      I’ve never read about wendigos I don’t think. I only know about them from that one Supernatural episode, I think it was lol. But I know of a book that has a wendigo as the MC, so I’d like to try that one. Ugh, unfinished series are like the bane of my existence, haha. But yay, I’m glad you won’t be leaving the blogosphere anytime soon because I love your blog and always end up finding new books to add to my TBR! Thank you πŸ™‚

  7. Becky @ A Fool's Ingenuity

    My bookish goals are similar to yours in some ways. I aim to read 100 books and I want to read more diversely. Honestly, my biggest goal is to cut my TBR. I’m employing a budget each month because I am embarrassed at the number of unread books I own. I also want to get a bit more sensible with books I request for review. I get a bit request happy and then end up with way more to read than I meant to. Much like I do when I buy books. I like to have things and then don’t like to read them. It’s an issue.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Yay for having similar goals! I’ve always been good about not going request happy, but I’m trying to be even stricter now for the reason that I’m tired of reading books that I know will most likely only be ok for me. I want to only request/accept books that truly sound like something I might love.

  8. Simona

    I really like your resolutions! 100 books sounds like a good number, so hopefully you’ll get there. You really need to read Raven Boys, it’s soooo good you won’t regret. I’m currently on the second book and I’m loving it. πŸ™‚ I’m in the middle of so many series as well! I can’t seem to finish them. I don’t know why it’s just that there are so many other books and I’m bad at sticking with one series, I guess. I want to keep blogging as well. This year wasn’t the best for me, I haven’t blogged as much as I’d liked to so hopefully this year I’m going to change that. πŸ™‚

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thank you! I feel like 100 just is a good number, so it’s what I chose last year too and will probably continue to choose lol. I’m definitely looking forward to The Raven Boys! Glad to hear you’re loving the series πŸ™‚ For me the problem with series is just that it takes all that time in between books for the next one to come out, so it’s not my fault that I’m in the middle of so many! Good luck with your blogging this year πŸ™‚

  9. Tiffany @ I Was Angelized_1st

    My bookish goal this year is to read all (most of) the books I’ve been buying over the past few years. I’ve been so busy reading ARCs and the like, that I’ve fallen down on the books I’ve been wanting to read the most. I also want to read more classics. I pledged 150, but I don’t really care if I hit that or not. I just picked it because I’ve read over 160 the past two years in a row.

    1. Kristen Burns

      That’s a great goal. I’ve also been so busy reading review copies that I’ve neglected some other books I’ve been wanting to read. I did give myself a break at the end of 2016 though and didn’t read review copies for a few weeks. It was a nice feeling! I too have read over 160 for the past two years I think, but I put 100 as my number so that I won’t feel stressed lol.

  10. Zeee @ I Heart Romance

    I also hate making resolutions because I always do not follow through! I have promised to join a few challenges this year though which should be pretty manageable. I purposely didn’t set lofty challenge goals because I know I wouldn’t achieve them. haha πŸ™‚

    I also want to read older review copies that I currently have. I hope this will pan out well for me!

    1. Kristen Burns

      A few challenges doesn’t sound too bad, especially if you kept the goals low enough to keep them being stressful! But for me I just don’t even wanna bother keeping track of goals in addition to everything else lol.

      We all probably have older review copies we need to read, the question is just whether any of us will actually stick to that goal πŸ˜›

  11. Lexxie @ (un)Conventional Bookviews

    Happy 2017, Kristen!
    You have some good goals, that may be possible to achieve without stress, and that’s a good thing πŸ™‚ I am still chuckling about your ‘finish a damned series’… I tend to not read the very last book in series I love… because then it isn’t over πŸ˜€
    And I love the Raven Boys! I have those on audio and plan to listen this year after loving reading about them last year.
    I hope this year will be all you want it to be!

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thanks! Yep, I really don’t stress over these, so it should be good πŸ™‚ For me the problem isn’t that I don’t finish the last book, it’s that almost all the series I’m in simply aren’t completed yet!

      I’m glad to hear you like the Raven Boys enough to reread/listen to them! I’m looking forward to trying them.

      Thanks, same to you!

  12. Ashley G.

    Rereading is the best! I wish I had more time for it.

    100 books! Wow! I wish I could read that many books. Last year I think I only read between 30-40 books. But then, I’m a slow reader.

    Have you ever read Jackoby or The Amulet of Samarkand? They have mythical creatures. As for retellings Gail Levine Carson writes a lot, but she’s very MG. I’m not sure if you’re into MG? Also Robin McKinley writes awesome Beauty and the Beast retellings! They’re a little slow at times? And they’re a little MG too. But one of the many things I like about them is that Beauty’s sisters are never the cliched evil sisters and they actually feel like a real family. OH! And you’ve probably heard of this, but if you like Robin Hood, Lawhead has an awesome retelling called The Raven King trilogy. It’s has long periods of slowness too (what is with these retellings and slow moments?). But I think it’s worth it because he sets it in historical context and it’s really cool.

    *ahem* I should probably stop telling you about books that you’ve probably already heard of. XD

    You’ll probably like The Raven Boys. It’s very character-based and the writing is gorgeous.

    1. Kristen Burns

      I love rereading! But it is such a conundrum because rereading means missing out on the chance to try the million new books we want to try.

      30-40 books is still great! I just probably spend more time reading than you because I have no life lol.

      I haven’t heard of any of those books, actually. I’m not big into MG but I read it on occasion and sometimes it surprises me, so I’ll have to check your recs out πŸ™‚

      Your description of the Raven Boys makes it sound like exactly my kind of book lol. I’ve heard so much about the characters and the friendships, so that’s why I’ve decided to give it a try!

  13. Dragonfly

    Oh I also need to stop fooling around with Raven Boys!!!! Sometimes I wonder if I’m just sacred of some books. Like they will not live up to all the hype, smh
    I can’t believe I beat you to the harpies πŸ™‚
    and I DID SHARE. I told you about that book last year πŸ˜‰
    AND DON’T TELL ME NOW THAT LITTLE VAMPIRE GIRL ON THAT COVER DOESN’T GLITTER! synonyms count and she is GLEAMING on that cover πŸ˜‰
    S.M.H! πŸ™‚
    BUT Interview with the Vampire, the movie was awesome and she doesn’t gleam there so I graciously forgive you my dear πŸ™‚

    1. Kristen Burns

      Lol that is a totally legit fear. Overhyped books do often tend to not live up to it.

      Wait, what book have you read about harpies??? I don’t remember!

      First of all, she’s just pale and therefore glows in the dark. It’s a thing. I know because I also glow in the dark lol. Second of all, it’s Claudia! And you know from the movie that she doesn’t sparkle! Synonyms do not count! Lol.

  14. Literary Feline

    An ambitious but doable list, Kristen! I think some of these fit what I’d like to do this year as well. I won’t even try for 100 because I know that won’t happen (but wouldn’t it be nice?). I do want to write more this year and read older review copies. I have a lot of catching up to do. :-S

  15. Bookworm Brandee

    Good luck in accomplishing your goals for 2017, Kristen! I had to laugh when I saw your list of books to “finally* read…The Raven Boys is on my list for that…AND your goal to finish some series. I made a list of series I need to finish…150!! ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY! Okay, I did mark a couple off late in the year because I’d just been putting off reading the last in the series but still. That’s a lot of series. So let’s both finish some damn series!! πŸ˜€ I look forward to seeing your progress, my friend.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thank you! And it looks like we’re both late to the Raven Boys party lol. But WOW, ok you win with the series thing, haha. I thought I was bad with 40-something, but then, since I keep adding more and more every year, I’ll probably be at 150 soon enough. My problem is that most of the series I’m reading just won’t be complete this year -_- It’s not my fault!