New Years Resolutions 2022

 Hey everyone.

It's been another spin around the sun. What a tough and interesting year.

Like I always do, I like to look back and reflect on my New Year's Resolutions and see how things went.

Last year I pledged to:

Read 25 books

Watch 2 hours of television a week

More yoga

Learn some Spanish

More gardening

Mending every Sunday night

Yes, did it. Read 37 books. I read a lot more romance books this year - I really enjoyed the first few Bridgerton novels.

Did I watch 2 hours of television a week? Probably more like 1 hour a week. I watched a lot of YouTube videos. Some sci-fi and some K-dramas on Netflix. Some Doctor Who. Star Trek: Lower Decks. King the Eternal Monarch. Bridgerton. Caught up a bit on The Crown. I loved Wheel of Time! How amazing to see one of my favorite book series finally realized in a television format. I'm not counting hundreds of hours that I've probably watched of children's TV shows. I find I'm a little happier when I watch at least a little TV. It gives my brain something to chew on.

I did a non-zero amount of yoga.

I feel like I picked up a little Spanish by osmosis, just living in Texas.

In the gardening department, I had meant to garden in my yard, but was delayed by continuing debate over where we shall have a fence installed. I attempted to grow a bean tipi in my backyard, but was foiled by accidentally having planted bush beans instead of pole beans. At least they were very productive! I did acquire and care for a number of new houseplants though!

Mending? Not every Sunday night, but I did a bit. I always enjoy repairing something that's a favorite instead of just tossing it. I did a lot, a lot, a lot of thinning down and de-cluttering this year though. My current house is half the size of my old one, and getting rid of a few big ticket items helped, but did not get me nearly where I needed to be in terms of simplifying my possessions. I probably donated about half of my wardrobe last year.

What's up for the year ahead?

I'm not sure if I want to set a number on how many books to read. I could go for something easy, like 12? Or something challenging like 200? No. I think this year, for the first in a very long time, I'll just read what I feel drawn to and see what the numbers look like at the end of the year.

I'd like to blog a bit more. Maybe an entry every month?

2021 was a tough year - COVID-19 raged on. The Texas storm last February was difficult. I was lucky not to lose power, but was without running water for some time, and my library pivoted to distributing water to families in need - a laudable, but grueling task. I worked at a mass vaccination site - tracking data for patients, and directing parking lot traffic. I think 2022 will be a year that encompasses more self-care, more slowing down, and more self-reflection.

And of course, my big project of 2022 will be finding a new job. I'm doing a lot of soul-searching about what kind of librarian I want to be, how I want to give back to the community, and what I want to get out of a library position.

Onwards!

New Year's Resolutions 2021

 

Wow. How the time flies. What a wild year. I'm still having flashbacks to when we were all making Barbara Walters jokes about "2020!" and we all had no idea what was in store.

Last year my resolutions were:

Read 52 books total
Read at least 12 ARCs
Read at least 12 "classics"

I completed reading 52 books - just barely! And, I'm ashamed to say, I ended up selecting some verrry short books that I could read quickly, just so I could meet the challenge. This year, I think I'll go with an even lower number, to give myself room to tackle some of those 1,000+ page fantasy novels I've been eyeing.

As far as reading more ARCs and more classics - I just wasn't able to keep track. I began blogging reviews, as intended, and then of course, you all know what happened.

Once the pandemic hit, I was working from home, homeschooling, not to mention being pulled in to work the Georgia polls which truly upended any of my plans. I'm glad I had the opportunity to work as a pollworker. It was a fascinating process, and a grueling one. I know I'll never think about elections the same way again.

And 2020 brought me to a new job, a cross-country move and new (much, much smaller and blessedly more affordable) house. It's truly been a transformative year for me and my family.

This upcoming year, my resolutions are:

Read 25 books. This will equal out to a little more than 2 books a month, should be very easy to do.

My other resolution is to try and watch 2 hours of television a week. I've never been a big TV watcher and there are a lot of great series I'd like to catch up on.

Some more vague and nebulous self-improvement ideas include incorporating more yoga into my life and work on learning some Spanish.

I know I'll be doing more gardening this year, for sure. I'm pretty confident that after a year of baking bread and cakes, I'm ready to give up on baking as a serious hobby (my waistline will thank me for laying off the cake, that much is certain!)

I had a routine last year of doing some mending every Sunday night. Nice way to end the week. I've been debating if I'll get back into it, although to tell the truth, I've been donating or tossing items much more these past few months (got to get rid of the clutter in my small place!)

What are y'all plans for 2021?

New Year's Resolutions 2020

Greetings all!

My blog has been " on break" all this past year. But, I'd like to revisit my New Year's Resolutions nonetheless.
Last year I pledged to:

Read 100 books
Read more 2019 titles
Trim my To-Be-Read list down to 100 items
Bake something at least once a week

How did I do? Um... okay, I guess. A serious effort was made on all fronts, even though I don't feel I truly accomplished these goals. I read a lot more in 2019 - 85 books, which still fell short of my goal. Interestingly, I read the absolute most in Jan. 2019 and Dec. 2019. So, I guess I am more of a read-curled-up-by-a-roaring-fireplace kind of person than a read-under-a-beach-umbrella sort of person.

I only read 7 titles that could be counted as "new" or "newish" I had a lot of catching up to do, and of course, I'm always on the lookout for older, less in demand, but still quality titles to use for my various book clubs.

My big resolution, and probably most life-changing one was to bake something once a week. I had fantasized about getting in the habit of quickly and easily throwing together a loaf of bread every week and truly mastering it. But, once I got started, I decided to challenge myself by baking a NEW recipe every week. I tried a number of recipes: breads, rolls, cakes, cookies, pies, banana breads, etc. I kind of petered out in the summer months - I hadn't counted on how daunting it is to bake in the summer heat! But, I am so glad I challenged myself to do this. I think I learned a lot and I feel more accomplished as a home chef, for sure. I kind of wish I had blogged each of my baking creations, but I did post pics on Twitter, with the hashtag #yearofbaking.

Did I trim my TBR? No. But I do feel comfortable that it's at less than 365 titles. So, that's something.

My goals for 2020 are as follows:

Read 52 books total
Read at least 12 ARCs
Read at least 12 "classics"

I have a bit more of an organized plan in place this year to take advantage of Netgalley.

What are your goals in 2020?

New Years Resolutions 2019

2018 turned out to be a year of very only occasional blogging! You know when you are so busy, you don't even have time to tell people about how busy you are? That's what 2018 was. My library is undergoing renovations and I'm currently working in an outreach librarian role, which is something I'd never pictured for myself. It's interesting and challenging! I can't wait until my library is ready to re-open though, as I'm drawing lots of inspiration for new programs to try, new displays to assemble and more in-depth collection development work.

So! New Years Resolutions - how did I do?
Last year I said:

Goals for 2018 include:

Spend less time on social media, pointlessly lurking, clicking and scrolling, and more time actually reading books. Really wondering how much of my To Be Read pile I can knock out!
I want to read at least 50 books this year!
I'd like to walk three miles a day. This isn't too outrageous of a goal, as I have to walk a lot in my job, so with a bit more effort, I should make three miles a day, easily.

Okay, then! I did give up social media for about 6 months. It was tough at times, but also very freeing. Then, I kind of dipped my toe back in... and now I feel like I'm right back where I was at the end of last year! Scrolling, hitting refresh, scrolling more, wasting time. Well, time to cut back again, I guess.

I read more than 50 books this past year. I've set some high goal numbers in the past and failed to get there. Sometimes, just for fun, I've set the bar quite low (one year, I think I even set my number to a mere 12 books!) This year, I think I'm going to try for 100 books. Challenging, but hopefully doable. I've spent a lot of time reading to keep up with my various book clubs. And often, selecting a book club pick means NOT picking a new title, as those have tons of holds on them anyway. So, there's a certain art to working with what you have and picking an appealing backlist title that was popular enough that we'll have plenty of copies on hand, but at the same time, not so ubiquitous that everyone has absolutely read it already. At any rate, I realized at year's end, when I was asked to contribute some 2018 titles for Staff Picks lists - I'd only read 3 or 4 books published in the current year. So, in 2019, I'm going to make more of an effort to read current titles and to use NetGalley more for pre-pub e-ARCS. I want to trim my TBR list down to 100 items.

My final resolution from last year: walk 3 miles a day. Ouch. Even walking a lot in my job, even going for a walk during lunch, even (some days) walking to work, this was actually a lot tougher to achieve than I thought. If I had to guess, I'd say I only managed to walk 3 miles a day about a third of the time. Still a lot better than nothing! But, it wasn't easily in the bag as I originally imagined. I did lose 10 pounds and keep it off, so that is something!

I have a new resolution in 2019. Bake more. I'll try to bake something once a week, and I've already started with my birthday cake, an orange and vanilla cake recipe that I somewhat improvised.

Okay, to sum up, Goals for 2019 include:
Read 100 books
Read more 2019 titles
Trim my To-Be-Read list down to 100 items
Bake something at least once a week

New Years Resolutions 2018

It's time! How did my New Years Resolutions from last year go? And what am I planning for next year?

Last year, I said:

In 2017 I'm hoping to:

• Read at least 15 novel-length books.
• Thin out my personal bookshelves. I have a lot of "tsundoko," books I've purchased and let pile up unread. I'll be gifting a lot of these to Little Free Libraries this year.
• Continue blogging once a week.
• And my big, non-book related goal is to lose weight and stay in shape!

How'd I do? I read 21 books! I've kind of been beating myself up for not reading more. But, I exceeded my (admittedly low) goal, so that's something.

I have thinned out a large number of books. But, I've been gifted or purchased a lot of new books this past year, too. Doesn't feel like I made progress, but at least the piles of books all around my house aren't getting worse.

Continue blogging? Yikes. I fell down pretty hard on this one. I've been fairly pressed for free time. Sometimes, I didn't feel like I had a quality post to add. Other times, I had a post all planned, and never published it. A few times, I had a seasonal post which - by the time I had the free time to put it up, was already kind of out of date. In addition, I had almost all of my blog images hosted on Photobucket, so things are looking pretty poorly around here, lately. I'm working on fixing old posts. Slowly, but surely.

Lose weight? Oh no. Let's just say there's a reason why people make that resolution every year.

Okay, onwards!

Goals for 2018 include:

• Spend less time on social media, pointlessly lurking, clicking and scrolling, and more time actually reading books. Really wondering how much of my To Be Read pile I can knock out!
• I want to read at least 50 books this year!
• I'd like to walk three miles a day. This isn't too outrageous of a goal, as I have to walk a lot in my job, so with a bit more effort, I should make three miles a day, easily.

New Year's Resolutions 2017

Every year I make some resolutions... and check up to see how I did with last year's resolutions.

• Last year I wanted to blog once a week. I mostly kept up with it, although I did take a break in August, a very busy month!
• I resolved to keep writing reviews immediately after finishing a book. I wrote a few new reviews this year... but not many. I'll keep plugging at it.
• I promised to trim my TBR down to less than 365 books. Success! I currently have 345 books listed as "to read" on my Goodreads page.
• My big goal was to read a book a day with my daughter, and I did! I read 388 board books with her this year! 

In 2017 I'm hoping to:

• Read at least 15 novel-length books.
• Thin out my personal bookshelves. I have a lot of "tsundoko," books I've purchased and let pile up unread. I'll be gifting a lot of these to Little Free Libraries this year.
• Continue blogging once a week.
• And my big, non-book related goal is to lose weight and stay in shape!

New Years Resolutions 2016 - No Spoilers!

Hey, hey! It's that time of year. How did my resolutions from last year work out, and what have I got up my sleeve for this year?
I've had a fun little tradition of using a Star Wars character for each year's resolutions. I started in 2010 with Yoda, because, I realized that I would usually say that I was going to "try" to make all my resolutions stick that year. That was when I decided that "Do, or do not, there is no try." 2011 was Luke Skywalker, because I felt very noble about my resolutions - very determined to see things through. 2012 was Han Solo because I felt like I was shooting from the hip! 2013 was Princess Leia because I was feeling very smug about how well things were going. 2014 was R2D2 because I felt like I was determinedly chugging along. Last year was Queen Amidala, because I was pregnant.

Last year, I resolved to keep up with blogging 1-3 times a week. That totally fell apart once I returned to work after my maternity leave! But, I did post something about once a month, at least. This year, hopefully I'll keep up with one post per week.

I resolved to write reviews immediately after finishing a book. That also worked out pretty great at first, but kinda slowed down towards the year's end. Last year, I pledged to read 10,000 pages. I read 6,269, so a little over half what I thought I would. I said I'd cut down my TBR - I made two massive chops, and was a little more selective than usual in adding new items. I wish I'd kept track of how many items were on my To Be Read List - I think it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 600+. Right now my TBR has 372 items. That's still realistically, more than I could read in a year's time, so another cut is on the way. This year, I'd like to trim my TBR to less than 365 books, at least!

In 2016, another big goal of mine is to read a picture book with my baby daughter every day. She loves books. We have really enjoyed repeat readings of It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles Shaw and other high contrast favorites. She enjoys looking at the pictures and patting the pages of super simple board books. I'm really looking forward to sharing more old favorites and discovering new books in the coming year.

New Year's Resolutions for 2015

Making New Year's Resolutions is always one of my favorite things to do at the beginning of my blogging year. You know, I feel that I make the same resolutions over and over - catch up on my TBR, read more, blog regularly, etc. etc.

Eh, this year, I hope to do the same, but I'm thinking of tweaking things a bit.

This past year, I've been blogging twice a week, which has worked out well. My original goal when I started the blog over 5 years ago was to post an entry 1-3 times a week, as I'd heard from experienced bloggers that consistency is the key to successful blogging. And it's true! This year, I'd like to blog 1-3 times a week, and also, include a lot more posts about current events in the library and publishing world.

I'm also resolving to write reviews immediately after reading the book - it's easier to do when it's fresh in my mind!

I have gone back and forth and up and down with my reading goals over the years. Last year I resolved to read 55 books, and I made my goal... just barely! It's occurred to me that I would have gone way over my reading goal if I'd just chosen shorter books. A couple of very hefty fantasy novels really set me back. This year, I think I'll look at this in a different way. Instead of looking at number of books - I'm going to make a goal to read 10,000 pages. I know - I could probably be even more accurate if I went by word count since fonts and margins can vary the number of words on a page greatly - but looking up page counts is so much easier, so let's give that a try.

I'm also going to knock my TBR list down, hopefully by quite a bit. I'll do a culling of the list at the beginning of the year, and again at midyear.



What are your New Year's Resolutions?

New Year Resolutions 2014

Wow. This past year went by fast. It's time - to make some new resolutions!

Last year I pledged to write 3 posts a week. That has always worked really well for me in the past. I did slow down to only one post a week by the end of the year though. What can I say - I just got really busy! Going forward, I'm hoping to do 2 posts a week - every Tuesday and every Friday.

Last year I resolved to review less picture books. I also came across a number of things I could have posted about but didn't, because I only wanted high-quality posts. I think that, plus being really busy, is what slowed me down towards the end of 2013. This year, hopefully I won't let perfect be the enemy of good, and if something seems halfway decent or interesting to talk about, I'll just throw it on the blog. 

I'm resolving right now, to get caught up on my backlog of books to be reviewed. I have so many books that I need to review - I'm embarrassed to admit, it's actually a pile of  over a dozen. It really is easier and more fun to review a book immediately after reading it. I want to create a nice buffer of posts so I can plan ahead more. I'd like to include some more posts about libraries, in addition to more book reviews.

For reading - I'm going to make a couple of resolutions. First, I need to tackle more of the ARCs sitting on my nightstand. Actually, I'm pretty sure you can't even tell there's a nightstand under there. Read 'em, review 'em, and donate 'em! That's my plan. I want to read more middle-grade fiction this year. Bar none, I get more questions from my library patrons about middle-grade fiction than any other topic. So, I definitely need to stay ahead! And I'd like to fit in some more digital ARCs from NetGalley and Edelweiss on my reading schedule as well.

I'm going to knock my TBR list down, hopefully by quite a bit. I'll do a culling of the list at the beginning of the year, and again at midyear.

Last year I set my reading goal for 104 books, and I thought I'd meet that easy peasy. That's just two books a week! But, towards the end of the year, it was tough. I raced through a ton of books in November and December just to get "caught up" - I thought for sure I'd be waaay over 104 and instead needed to scramble. It turns out I didn't even break a hundred - I only read 97 books last year. This year, I need a goal that's a little easier than that. I'm going to try to read 55 books. That's a book a week, plus a little more.


What are your New Year's Resolutions?

New Year's Resolutions 2013

Wow! Moving into year four on the blog. It's kind of amazing to me. Looking back, it's really  interesting to see my prior New Years' Resolutions. And, of course, I'm thinking a lot about where I'd like to be in the coming year. Right now, I know that I have a ton of YA reviews to catch up on.

Let's take a quick look at the numbers:
In 2009, I reviewed 13 picture books
In 2010, I reviewed 24 picture books
2011, equalled 54 picture books
2012, I managed to review 98 picture books

As the blog currently stands, I don't know if I'm giving the impression of someone who is a voracious reader of YA books (even though I am.) So, I think in the coming year, I'll definitely slow way down on picture book reviews. It's not that I don't love them. (I absolutely do!) But, trying to review all the picture books and easy readers that cross my way has meant that I'm actually writing a lot of very negative reviews. And that bums me out. It's depressing to pan a book that might have represented weeks, if not months or the better part of a year of effort from a whole team of people: authors, illustrators, editors. Don't get me wrong, I do like the occasional negative review - only if it's well deserved, of course. It keeps me honest and proves that I'm not a glad-happy yea-sayer, ready to gush over every single book that comes my way. But, lately I've been feeling in my effort to exhaustively cover the picture book market, I'm robbing myself of opportunities to read, review and share books for older kids that I have really enjoyed.

How much to post? That a question that I usually ask myself around this time of year. I started with a pledge to post 1-3 times a week, amped that up to every single day, and then scaled back down to 3x per week. I'm pretty comfortable with that routine. Three posts a week feels about right. Though, of course, if I think of more things to say, I'll be sure to post more!

And, how many books to read this year? In the past, I've set my sights quite high and been so disappointed when I feel just short. Last year, I set myself the silly and nonsensical goal of a book a month - 12 books total, knowing that I would certainly make it, and it would just be interesting to see how many books I'd read with the shackles totally off.

I feel like 100 is still a pretty easy goal. This next year I'd like to read a little more than that. 104 is a nice number - that's two books a week. If I can read 104+ books this year I'll be pretty pleased with myself.

What are your New Years' Resolutions?

2012 New Year's Resolutions

Every year I like to take a look back and see how I did on my New Year's resolutions. Last year, I pledged to blog "every day or nearly every day ." I'm not sure how in my mind that turned into "absolutely every day without fail, no exceptions," but it did. I blogged everyday last year! It was an awesome experience and I'm really glad I did it. At this point, I feel like there's nothing else I can do but slow down. I mean, I'm certainly not going to be blogging more than once a day, right? For 2012, I'm planning on blogging 3-6 times a week. Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays, for sure (as I've always done) and more if I have more to say. Mondays will be dark, so no blog entries then.

Last year I hoped to read 150 books - and I almost, but not quite managed it. I'm ashamed to say, I picked up some books that looked short and easy to try and plump up the final number. I also stuck with it, and finished reading books that I hated so that they would "count." Ugh. So how many to shoot for in 2012? I've thrown around some different numbers in my head - 100, like I used to do? Less than that? Finally, I decided that I'm not going to set a specific number of books to read this year. How about that? I'll just do some reading, and not worry about the number of books read! How freeing. I am going to do the 2012 Debut Authors' Challenge this year, I really enjoyed doing it last year. So, I guess there is a number of books to be read: 12. Darn. 12 books in 2012, think I can manage it?

Last year I reviewed 45 picture books, 36 middle-grade fiction novels, and 64 YA novels. I'm pretty sure that's the most reviews I've ever done. I kind of like that balance, but this year, I think I'm going to try to read more middle-grade fiction. I do a lot of reader's advisory at work, and it's good to stay on top of what's out there. I've kind of gone back and forth on picture book reviewing this year. Do I want to keep doing it? Part of me says, "No. Drop the picture books. Narrow your focus." But then, I'll run across some really great picture book, and I can't resist. What do you think, blog readers? Too many picture book reviews here? Too few? Just right?

The blogosphere... I've made an effort in the past few months to comment more on other people's book blogs. I'm enjoying it! I've discovered a lot of awesome new bloggers. I guess I'm commenting on 5 or so blogs a day. I definitely want to continue doing that, but in keeping with my "no numbers, no pressure" theme for 2012, I can't promise that I'll make "x" number of comments per day or anything like that. All I can tell you is that I'm going to continue to make an effort to visit others blogs, and respond with quality comments.


So, that's it! What are your bookish New Year's resolutions this year?

Crunch time

It's crunch time! I'm thisclose to hitting my reading goals this year. Will I make it? Only time will tell!

Resolutions for 2011

Last year, I wrote up a set of goals for 2010.  Now that the year has ended, it's time to look back and ask, "How'd I do?"

Last year, I promised myself that I would review more picture books.  It doesn't feel like I did.  There are so very many wonderful picture books that I meant to feature on my blog, but just didn't get around to.  The numbers don't lie, however.  In 2009, I reviewed 13 lucky picture books.  In 2010, I nearly doubled that number to 24.

I committed to posting on my blog 1-3 times a week.  No problem there.  I've been very consistent in that regard.

I also promised myself not to over-twitter!  No more than a tweet or two a day.  I think I may have fallen down on that one... I've grown much more relaxed with Twitter as I've grown more accustomed to using it.  Sometimes I'll post several updates to Twitter within a few minutes, other times I won't have anything to say for a day or two, and I think that's fine.

Finally, last year I vowed to ignore the backlist titles clogging up my TBR list and stay more current.  I have to say, I found myself completely ignoring this self-imposed dicate, whimsically reading whatever struck my fancy whilst ignoring my ever-growing pile of ARCs.  I've said it before, and I'll say it a hundred times, "They write books faster than I can read them."  I really should do better in this regard.

So, what's on the agenda for 2011?
Well, more of the same, I suppose.  I'd like to continue to review more picture books.  Also, more poetry!  I'd like very much to stay current and read more things published in the current year.  I'd like to blog more -- every day or nearly every day would be nice. I'll start including the month published in addition to the year, on my book reviews.

One thing I'm excited about is the 2011 Debut Author Challenge hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren.  What a great way to broaden one's horizons!  I'm definitely up for signing on to read 12 books by new authors this year.

New Year's Resolutions

It's not too late to share these, right?

I find myself frequently saying that I will try to do this or that. And my internal Yoda assures me there's no such thing. You either do a thing or you do not.

It's funny, because when I first started this blog, I really thought I would be reviewing mostly picture books. I surprised myself by reviewing so much YA, and posting on so many various and sundry topics of library interest. This upcoming year, I'll try to review more picture books.

I like to keep my posts fairly regular, and when I started my blog I promised myself to post at least once a week, but no more than three times a week. I didn't want to burn myself out, and that turned out to be a wiser move than I could have imagined. I briefly flirted with every-day blogging with my Vampire Week posts. The genesis of that idea was that I'd read so many teen vampire novels, I wanted to post reviews of them all at once and get them out of the way. Posting every day completely wore me out -- but then again, I was posting reviews for as many as 3 or 4 books a day. I suppose I could have strung them out and had an entire Vampire Month. But that's way too many vamps, even for me. Generally, I like to post on Sunday, Wednesday and Friday, and I can easily picture keeping that up in the upcoming year.

I had been doing very well posting once a day on my twitter account @madiganreads, although I slacked a bit over the holidays. My goal is to post (okay -- "tweet") once a day and not much more than that. It's too easy to get sucked into twittering every little thing! Limiting twitter to a once a day indulgence helps keep me focused on the most important info that I want to share with friends.

I'm giving myself until March to get caught up on my current backlog of reading. After that, the spring lists will be in full swing and I resolve to stay more current.

Also, Grammar Girl assures us that in the upcoming year, two-thousand ten, and twenty-ten are both equally correct. I resolve to stick with the more elegant (but longer) two-thousand ten.