Top Ten Tuesday – My Reading and Blogging Goals for 2021

 

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.  Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!

This week’s TTT topic is Resolutions/Hopes for 2021 (bookish or not!).  Since I haven’t yet posted my list of goals for reading and blogging, I’m going that route this week.  Some of these are new goals, while others are repeats of goals I had for 2020, either because I failed at them last year or because I did okay and want to continue to work on that same goal in the coming year.

(Edited to add – I will be striking through titles on this list as I read them  in order to keep track of my progress).

via GIPHY

My Reading and Blogging Goals for 2021

 

1)  My number one goal this year is a repeat goal from 2020 and that is to read more of the books I own.  I love ARCs of course, but I hate feeling like I’m neglecting books I’ve purchased.  I actually did pretty good with this goal last year, reading 53 of the books I had physically sitting on my shelves.  Where I didn’t do as well, however, were all of those ebooks I have sitting on my kindle.  They were basically out of sight, out of mind since I had all of those physical books staring me in the face.  To help better keep track of those ebooks, I have made myself a MASTER LIST of all of the books I own and want to read in 2021.  I’m not taking part in any challenges this year but am setting a goal for myself of reading 60 books I already own.

 

2)  This is also a repeat goal from 2020.  I really want to continue to only participate in blog tours where I have already requested a review book.  I did pretty well at this in 2020; I think I only ended up participating in one tour where I didn’t already have the book and I really cut down on the number of tours I did overall.  Hoping to stay on track in 2021.

 

3)  This is also an ongoing goal since my struggle to finish series continues.  In 2020, I had a list of 9 series I wanted to finish or get caught up in.  I finished 2 series, got caught up in 2 others, and read one book in another.  So yeah, not great.  For this year, I have 8 series that I want to finish and 3 new ones sitting on my shelf that I want to start.

Series I Want to Finish or Get Caught Up On: 

  • The Nevernight Chronicle (1 book left)
  • An Ember in the Ashes (2 books left)
  • Arc of a Scythe (1 book left)
  • Red Winter (2 books left)
  • The Wrath and the Dawn (1 book left)
  • Legacy of Orisha (ongoing series, but I’m one book behind)
  • Cursebreakers (1 book left)
  • The Mortal Instruments (3 books left)

Series I Want to Start:

  • Daughter of Smoke and Bone
  • City of Brass
  • Legend

 

4)  This is also a repeat goal from last year.  I really want to work more on my Bookstagram account.  Sometimes I post every day of the week, but then disappear for weeks at a time.  I want to work on posting more consistently, taking better photos, and on interacting more on the platform.

 

5)  I also want to get better when it comes to re-reading books I love.  To keep it low pressure, I’m setting a personal goal of 1 re-read a month.  Below are the books I’m hoping to re-read.  Some are old favorites, while others are series books I need to re-read in order to facilitate goal #3 above.

  • The Night Circus
  • To Kill a Mockingbird
  • Rebecca
  • Children of Blood and Bone
  • Red Winter
  • The Chronicles of Narnia (7 books) – As of 12/24, I’ve re-read only the first book.
  • The Wrath and the Dawn

 

6) I am aiming to keep my Netgalley percentage at 85% or above in 2021.  I did pretty good with this goal in 2020, definitely better than in prior years, so I’m hoping I can continue to not request more than I can reasonably keep up with.

 

7)  In 2021, I really want to increase the amount of Nonfiction titles I read.  Most years I only read maybe 1 or 2 nonfiction books.  As with the re-reads, this year I’m setting a personal goal of 1 nonfiction book a month. Here’s a list of titles I’m hoping to read:

  • A Promised Land by Barack Obama
  • The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
  • My Own Words by Ruth Bader Ginsburg
  • The Truths We Hold: An American Journey by Kamala Harris
  • Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly
  • Hamilton by Ron Chernow (I started this in 2020 but haven’t finished it yet).
  • What Unites Us by Dan Rather
  • We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
  • Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers Who Helped Win WWII by Liza Mundy
  • D-Day Girls: The Spies Who Armed the Resistance, Sabotaged the Nazis, and Helped Win WWII by Sarah Rose
  • A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win WWII by Sonia Purnell
  • All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson
  • Untamed by Glennon Doyle

 

8)  In 2021, I really want to work on being better organized. I’ve never been a super-organized person, but the pandemic and everything that has happened because of it (working from home, having my child at home for virtual schooling since last March, etc.) has really done a number on what few organizational skills I had, haha.  I need to get back on track in terms of my work-life balance, and in terms of my blog (consistent posts, a more consistent schedule for blog hopping, etc.).  It will be baby steps of course because I’m still working from home and we’re still short-staffed, and my child is still doing virtual school for the foreseeable future, but there will be some progress.

 

9)  This year I really want to have some guest posting on my blog.  One of my BFFs is also an avid reader and I’ve been talking to her about maybe doing some buddy reads/reviews with me or perhaps even sharing some reviews of her own. She reads a lot of mysteries and psychological thrillers so I think her recs would be a great addition since I haven’t been reading much in those areas of late.

 

10) Lastly, I’ve already mentioned that I’m not doing any challenges this year.  That’s not strictly true. I am doing the Goodreads Challenge and have set my goal at 150 books.  I read 173 books in 2020 but some of that was due to the pandemic and politics and never wanting to turn on my TV.  In hopes that 2021 won’t be a repeat, I’m sticking with the 150.  It’s challenging but definitely doable, especially based on all of my reading goals above.

 

*****

Do you have any reading or blogging goals in mind for 2021?

40 replies
  1. Angela
    Angela says:

    I think these are all great goals! I’m not doing any challenges besides the Goodreads challenge, either, and I think that will help us focus on our other goals/books we already own. I love the goal of having someone guest post who reads different genres from you. Good luck with these!

    • Suzanne
      Suzanne says:

      Oh sorry, I didn’t word that well. I have a bad habit of accepting any blog tour I was invited to, which just added more and more ARCs to my already overflowing TBR. I’m trying to only accept invites to ones I’ve already requested.

    • Suzanne
      Suzanne says:

      Thanks! I’m sitting here thinking and I don’t think I’ve read anything by Sarah Waters yet. I’ll have to check her out. 🙂

  2. Tammy @ Books, Bones & Buffy
    Tammy @ Books, Bones & Buffy says:

    My blog tour goal for several years has been not to participate in blog tours, lol. Although I still occasionally will if its a publisher invitation and its a book I already have/on my TBR. I love your goals, and one I didn’t include in my list but want to try is to read my own books. I hate to make it formal because I think I’ll do terrible!

  3. Sam@wlabb
    Sam@wlabb says:

    I love the idea of guest posting! I had been able to goad my daughter into posting every once in a while, and Tanya did a double review with me, but I would love more collaboration. Look forward to seeing what you come up with for this goal. Good luck with all your goals.

  4. Jo
    Jo says:

    Wow you have an 85% ratio on Netgalley? I’m still trying to get to 80! I also want to read more non-fiction this year.

  5. Vi @Inkvotary
    Vi @Inkvotary says:

    I like your goals very much. Some of them I hope to achieve for myself too, like reading more books I already own. And I need to organize my shelves better *smile* WIshing you good luck with your reading and blogging goals for 2021.

  6. Amanda
    Amanda says:

    These are all great goals! I also want to be more organized this year. I am finding it hard being at home all the time. The days just trickle away too quickly when I don’t have a regular schedule.

  7. Lindsey @ Lindsey Reads
    Lindsey @ Lindsey Reads says:

    Great goals! I also want to re-read more, read more from my backlist, finish series and get organized better. I specifically hope you’ll enjoy your Red Winter re-read and the final books of the series (I re-read them all last December and it was the highlight of my month, haha 😉 )

  8. Literary Feline
    Literary Feline says:

    These are all great goals, Suzanne. I don’t do a lot of book tours anymore, but #2 is a good one. Finishing or catching up with series reading is one I really need to work on. I really should make a list of all the series I have started/am in the middle of and plan to continue. It would probably help be organize and work towards that type of goal more. Good luck with your reading and blogging goals this year!

  9. Lark
    Lark says:

    I haven’t really set any specific reading goals, but I do think that reading more books from your own shelves is always a good one. And I’d like to read more nonfiction this year, too. Oh, and trying to finish or catch up on series. I always seem to need to do that. Good luck with all your awesome goals! 🙂

  10. Tanya @ Girl Plus Books
    Tanya @ Girl Plus Books says:

    I’m also determined to read much more from my own shelves this year. That’s a goal every year, really, and it’s such a good feeling to FINALLY read and enjoy a book that I’ve let linger for too long. And I finally cut out blog tours for anything other than a review book. It just felt like filler and wasn’t the kind of content I wanted to put up. And with with the review books, I cut way, way back on those. Maybe 4 or 5 all of last year. There are just so many books I already own that I am genuinely excited to read.

  11. Dini @ dinipandareads
    Dini @ dinipandareads says:

    This is a great list of goals and I can relate to a lot of them! I definitely hope to tackle more of my existing shelves this year instead of continuously requesting ARCs (although that’s always fun), but like you said, my owned books are perhaps feeling a bit neglected 😂 I also wanted to get back to boosting my bookstgram but at this rate I think I just might rethink that. Good luck and I hope you enjoy achieving these goals!

  12. Kristin
    Kristin says:

    Since I’m looking at a huge move coming up this summer. My goal is to read as many physical books on my shelves as possible. That way I can sort of go through the books I don’t want to hold onto anymore.

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