For That Artsy Reader Girl’s Top Ten Tuesday:
January 17: Bookish Goals for 2023
The Luminaries – Toward the end of 2022 I tried to read Elinor Catton’s The Luminaries. It was difficult going and I put it down, because I heard about an instagram read along of the book taking place in February and March of this year. I think having the support of a read along will be helpful for tackling this long, dense book.
Rereads – I’m not usually much of a rereader because I tend to get distracted by all the new books out there. I’m also afraid of favorites not living up to my memory. But there are some books that I want to revisit, so I’m going to try to do that this year. Here’s a post about them.
Unread books – Like many of us, I’ve got an accumulation of books I haven’t read yet sitting on my shelf. Some I’ve been procrastinating quite a while, either because I’m intimidated, or because I haven’t been in the mood for them. But I’m definitely going to try to reduce the quantity of unread books on my shelf.
Finish drafting my WIP – This is related to writing, but since I’m writing a book (or what I hope will be one someday), I think this is relevant. I’ve described some of my struggles with the the book I’d been working on, so I put it down and started to work on something else. Well, really I picked up something I’d put down several years ago. After a struggle and an attempt to pre-plot that didn’t work out, I finally gave myself permission to pants, and feel reinvigorated. I want to finish at least one draft of this in 2023.
Read more indies – I follow some indie writers on social media that are really creative and inspiring. I want to read more of their work in 2023. I also want to read more from small press authors. Some on my TBR:
- Grimmfay by M.T DeSantis
- The Van Helsing Paradox by Evelyn Chartres
- The Magic Collector by Chesney Infalt
- The Wicked Wolves of Windsor by Byrd Nash
- Darling there are Wolves in the Woods by LV Russell
Remember that goals are supposed to be fun and not the source of stress – Like most goals I have a tendency to put pressure on myself to meet reading goals. I always try to remind myself that reading goals are for fun and nothing else. My reading isn’t measured by how many books I read in a year, but by what I get out of them.
Be open to surprises – Bookish goals and TBRs are fun, but I also want to be open to picking up a random book and discovering I love it. I want to leave room to let that happen, by sometimes breaking a book buying ban, or stopping in at the library when I mean to go straight home.
Fran Laniado- Author 
Great goals here and I love your words about joy and generosity (on a different post) but can you explain what permission to pants means please?!
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Haha! “Pantsing” refers to writing “by the seat of your pants.” In other words, just starting to write and seeing where it takes you. I’ve be trying to do more plotting and outlining, but it doesn’t seem to be working well for me, so I’m going to allow myself to write in the way that’s comfortable for me. But yeah, I can see how that sentence sounds kind of weird!
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I like it and am going to use it!
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These are great goals! Those last two especially resonate. Fun & surprises are something that I rarely think of when writing goals posts, but they’re so important.
My TTT: https://bookwyrmknits.com/2023/01/17/top-12-books-2022-review-and-2023-goals/
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Good luck with your goals! I love to re-read my favorite books sometimes, it’s nice to revisit them.
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Thanks! Hopefully I’ll enjoy rereading them. I always worry I won’t like things as much a second time!
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I really like that last one – Be open to surprises! I need to do more of that.
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