Checking In: Reflections on My 2023 Reading Goals

Well folks, we’ve got just under 2 weeks left in the year, so it’s time to be honest with ourselves. Our time for resolution and goals is coming around again,so it’s time to time travel and see how we did with our 2023 reading goals. I am STILL READING and checking off a lot of boxes for this year, but it’s time to be honest and admit that January Me is not a normal human being. She’s both better and worse than anything else…and I hate her and love her. She’s got BIG dreams and she’s motivated…but sometimes too motivated.

Let’s reflect on my 2023 reading goals and see if I can convince myself to check them off by the end of December.

First, my “overarching goals” which I’ve been tracking throguhout the year. I laid those out in this blog post.

• I will DNF a book if it takes me more than 2 days to read 50 pages

I mostly did this? It’s hard with award committee work, but when reading for pleasure, I definitely did my best to DNF if I wasn’t having a good time anymore!

• I will track what I’m reading more diligently—including the Kid Lit I’m reading and reviewing. 

I mostly did this! I definitely forgot a ton of award committee books I DNF’d after like less than 50 pages…but I was SO good at logging KidLit and I’m almost at 1000 books read for the year.

• I will listen to at least 2 audiobooks a month, even if I’m in the middle of a really good podcast series

I mostly did this! I think there was maybe one or two months where I only did 1, but by the end of the year, I’d done

• I will not buy the sequel of a book if I haven’t read the last one already

This I did because I literally bought like 10 total books this year, but I still uh…acquired a lot of books. Not a lot of sequels, but…I’ll get back to this later haha.

• I will read 1 short story collection a month 

This was easy becasue of my award committee work but again, didn’t always computer month-to-month exactly. I’m at 13 for the year, but I’m writing this in mid-December and haven’t read one in December yet. It’s on the docket though!

And then, in late December, I also did this cocky little blog post called “What I’m Doing to Set Myself Up for Success with My 2023 Reading Resolutions” where I set up my tracking spreadsheet (which I’m still using) and laid out plans like

• My January reading list: “For my non-absolutely-required reading,  I want to read Cress Watercress by Gregory Maguire, Parachute Kids by Betty C Tang, Tripping Arcadia by Kit Mayquist, Coven by Jennifer Dugan and Kit Seaton and Home Away from Home by Cynthia Lord. “

Reader…I did not. As of December 10th, I STILL HAVE NOT READ Cress Watercress or Tripping Arcadia. Cress Watercress dropped in the TBR list when it didn’t win the YMAs it was rumored to be in consideration for….and I just forget Tripping Arcadia existed. I couldn’t remember if I read Coven but I just checked my reading tracker and ….nope. I read the other 2 though–both in January. LOL.

• These are the books I need to read before I can read/buy/borrow the sequels in 2023: Onyeka and (Sequel comes out May 30, 2023), Mihi Ever After (Sequel comes out May 16, 2023), Lia Park and the Missing Jewel (Sequel comes out May 30, 2023)

Girl, I read NONE OF THESE BOOKS or their sequels in 2023. I didn’t even try, lol. I might be able to squeeze in Mihi and it’s sequel by the end of the month if I’m careful but nope to the rest. I should just donate them!

• “There probably won’t be another Robert Galbraith book this year, so I have time to read through Inkblack Heart.”

I jinxed it. There was another Galbraith Book–Running Grave–and it was also 900+ pages. I did end up reading Inkblack Heart in November 2023, all 1012 pages, but then I made it 100 pages into Running Grave and DNF’d. I might come back to it next year but I’m making no more predictions for my own safety.

• My goal with this audiobook listening is to break my NPR addiction, not my bank, so I’m going to be relying on Overdrive/Libby and Hoopla for this!

I did pretty good on this! I’m still addicted to NPR, but I unsubscribed to Pop Culture Happy Hour and got addicted to the Penguin Random House Audio App, which means I didn’t buy a single audiobook or Audible credit in 2023!

So…that’s where things stand. We’re not in crisis mode, but when I start making my 2024 goals, I need to keep these in mind. The good thing is, I already know what my next award committee is so I can keep that in mind when making my goals!