Thursday, January 24, 2019

Discussion: Did I Actually Keep My 2018 Resolutions?

The Discussion Challenge is hosted by Feed Your Fiction Addiction & It Starts At Midnight.




I’m a goal-oriented person, so I love New Year’s resolutions. I happily make them every January. I stick with them until March. Then I promptly forget them. Yep, go me. Luckily (or unluckily), I have a blog, so I can look back at my goals and see if I actually accomplished them. Okay. Deep breath. Let’s sort through the colossal mess that was 2018:




Did I Actually Keep My 2018 Resolutions?



The Books





Resolution #1: Read at least 100 books.




Result: Accomplished! It was a massive struggle, and I read a lot of short books, but I reached 100. I’m setting my goal lower in 2019. I don’t need any more stressful nonsense in my life. Goodreads is going to become more of a reading tracker and less of a reading challenge.








Resolution #2: Read more translations.


Result: Fail. I only read 6 translations. If it helps, I acquired a bunch of translated books. They’re all sitting on my shelf, unread. I think I need a do-over on this resolution.








Resolution #3: Read Newbery winners.




Result: Success! Sort of! I read 13 winners and 4 honor books. This is a little depressing because there are still so many winners left to read! The Newbery Award has been around since 1922. It’ll take me years to catch up on all of the past winners.








Resolution #4: Read more Stephen King.




Result: Fail. I read 1 King book. At least it was good. My Stephen King challenge is like my Newbery challenge. There are so many books that I can’t catch up. How can one dude write so much?








Resolution #5: O by 19. Get my to-be-read pile down to 0 books.




Result: Hahahahahahaha *deep breath* Hahahahahahaha. No. I failed. I did succeed at reducing the number of unread books I own. I started the year with 63. I ended the year with 43.








Resolution #6: Figure out the deal with Christianity.


Result: *Sigh.* Past me, why did you give us such a vague goal? How am I supposed to measure how much I learned? I know I mostly failed. I did read a lot of books that involve Christianity in some way. They either had Christian themes or Christian characters. I have a few more books about Christianity sitting on my shelf, so this is an ongoing goal. If I really want to learn, I should probably get one of those Bible for Dummies books and start with the basics.









The Blog And The Internet




Resolution #7: Shorten my book reviews.


Result: Accomplished! I occasionally still post reviews that are 1000+ words, but I mostly do mini reviews now. My mini reviews are 300-600 words. Small reviews aren’t as thorough as I’d like, but they’re much less time-consuming to write.








Resolution #8: Learn to use Instagram.




Result: Mostly success! I’m not good at Instagram, but I learned how to use it. I somehow even got 200 followers. (I apologize to those 200 people for having to put up with me.) I’m still baffled by Instagram Stories. I rarely look at people’s stories, and I got confused while trying to post my own. Creating a story made me feel like a technologically inept old woman. I was just waving my cane at the phone and screaming incoherently until my teeth fell out. Then I gave up on stories forever.








Resolution #9: Participate in a Twitter chat.




Result: Accomplished! It was fun and completely overwhelming. It’s like trying to keep up with 10 different conversations at once. Also, people kept forgetting to include the hashtags, which increased the difficulty level by 80%. Sometimes I had no idea what people were talking about. Still, I’d do it again.








Resolution #10: Figure out the deal with blog tours.


Result: Fail. I didn’t even start looking at blog tours. I have no idea which tour companies are good or how to get involved.






I accomplished 5/10 resolutions. If I was in resolution school, I would have gotten an F. Oh well, the good thing about resolutions is that you can always start over again next year.






Did you make 2018 resolutions? How did you do?









42 comments:

  1. I generally make vague plans to reduce tbrs, increase reading, buy fewer books etc but not much else! I didn't feel my reading year went great overall with a lot of reading slumps spoiling things!

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    1. My reading went pretty good, too. I managed to read 100 books, even though I barely read anything for 3 months.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  2. I don't do resolutions but I do like to set myself goals. Last year my goals were huge life goals - finally marry my partner after 15years, buy our first home, buy a decent car - and I achieved them! This year I'm struggling to work out what to do... Guess I overachieved last year, lol.

    You've done well achieving half your resolutions. :)

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  3. I think 5 out of 10 is pretty good! Better than mine!

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  4. This year I've learned my lesson a bit from my 2018 resolutions and attached (hopefully) manageable numbers to my resolutions. I'm hoping that'll help. I think 5 out of 10 is pretty impressive. You set yourself enormous goals!

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  5. I say you get credit for trying! And 5 is definitely better than 0. :)

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  6. I think you did well. I did laugh at your very apt photos accompanying some of your less successful ones. Isn't a twitter chat fun if frustrating. I have not done one for a long time though. I didn't reach all my goals / intentions last year but that's okay, we set them and they are a guideline only.

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    1. The Twitter chat was fun, but I wish people hadn’t forgotten the hashtags. That made things very difficult to follow.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  7. You read 20 of your own books. I think that's fabulous and you read a lot more than I did. I have seen your Instagram. You have some really nice pictures on there. I have to say, good for you with the Twitter chat. I am way too slow for that.

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    1. Thanks! I try really hard with Instagram. I’ve been so busy that I haven’t posted in a long time.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  8. I'd say you still did pretty good! I don't totally understand IG stories, either. My sister is always showing me things and I'm just like, nah, I'm good. Mine are so basic.

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    1. Yeah, I’m thoroughly baffled by Instagram Stories. I don’t know how to make a pretty one, and I rarely watch other people’s Stories.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  9. Hey this is still pretty good! I did solidly half of my 2018 goals too lmaooo. Why is it easier to say we'll do them then to actually do them?! (shh don't answer that 😂) And omg YES how does Stephan King write twenty gazillion books?! I keep wanting to read one but I don't even know where to start and all the 900+ page ones terrify me more than the evil clowns or whatever he writes about would.😂Blog tours are great! I don't do many, but usually I get involved due to publishers asking. I feel like they're done less now though?

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    1. Stephen King is a force of nature. Nobody should be able to write that much! I’ve had a few publishers and tour hosts email me about blog tours, but the books have never interested me. Most of them have been romance or erotica.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  10. I'd say you did really well considering some of those were pretty hefty goals. Reducing your unread books is awesome and is always a continuous goal of mine. Twitter chats are overwhelming to me so I run far away and hide.

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    1. Thanks! Hopefully I can keep reducing my unread books. I still have way too many of them.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  11. You may feel like you only accomplished 5 of these, but having taken steps towards all of them is an accomplishment in itself!

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  12. I'm so with you on your #1 goal! And I did the same thing for 2019. I didn't set a quantity goal and still enter all the books I read into Goodreads, but I don't have that little challenge counter staring me in the face anymore.

    You set a lot of goals!! And, 0 TBR pile for a bookworm is totally unreasonable - hahaha!!

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    1. A 0 TBR is starting to feel more unreasonable every day. Where do all these books keep coming from? Hopefully not setting a Goodreads goal will take the pressure off.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  13. That’s a pretty good record—but then I don’t generally make resolutions, just goals. I find it amazing that you got your TBR pile down by a 1/3. I am resigned that my pile will continue to grow until I die (and books are holding up the roof). As for Christianity, let me know if you want help. There’s a lot of crap that’s published out there, but there is also a lot of good stuff, too.

    www.thepulpitandthepen.com

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    1. Haha, pretty soon my books will be holding up the roof. I’m going to try to be very responsible this year about acquiring books. I don’t like feeling overwhelmed by my unread stack.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  14. I think you did pretty good. I feel like Sage with my TBR. How can it go down when I keep adding more? LOL
    sherry @ fundinmental

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    1. Haha, I’m going to try really hard not to add a ton more books this year.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  15. If you figure out Christianity, let me know. 😆

    Thank gawd I am not the only one who can't get the gist of stories. 😂

    I didn't read a Newbery winner a month like I promised myself last year, but I have renewed my promise this year. 👍✨

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    1. Good luck with reading Newbery books! One a month sounds like a good goal. I should probably try that, too.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  16. Honestly, you did really well! I definitely failed some of my reading lists, but too much to read is a good problem to have!

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  17. hahaha number 8 is how I feel about Snapchat!

    You did well with your goals, especially considering you had so many!

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  18. I don't know, your resolution #2 was "read more translations" but you didn't say more than what, and you read 6. I call 6 a success - it's more than 0!!

    Also, I hear you on #8. What are Instagram stories? How do people get the little stickers and things that move? What is even going on? Are there secret buttons I don't know about? Do you need a separate app to get their weird video on a 2 second loop thing?

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    1. Six translations is less than I read in 2017. I wish I understood Instagram Stories. Some people make very pretty ones, but how?! Everything is confusing.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  19. This is awesome really, because my post would have been you open it up, and then in like, 200 pt font it just says NOPE.(I mean, I don't even think I made resolutions in 2018 but I legit cannot remember which has to be a fail in itself, right?)

    5 is awesome. AWESOME. I will just keep saying it until you believe it. Your Instagram one had me DYING though because same! Like- maybe if I did cool, fun things I'd use them? I might have used it once or twice on vacation? But every day? What, you want to see me driving to work, or doing the dishes and shit? Pass. I am also cackling at "figure out the deal with Christianity" bwhahahha. OH and blog tours... I generally only do one tour company's tours, but if you want to chat about tours, DM me or something and I'll give you whatever tea I can think of ;)

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    1. That’s one of my many problems with Instagram Stories! What do I even put on them? I can’t afford vacations, and I don’t have anything to say to people. If I decide to try the blog tour thing again, I’ll DM you. I’ve had a few tour companies contact me, but their books don't look interesting.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  20. I hear you I don't do well with vague goal either. They have to be concrete and measurable :) An girl, I can't think of a worse theme for me than Christianity. I know I will need several lifetimes to learn about it even though I was raised catholic. Mainly because I have ALL THE QUESTIONS? LOL BUT hey! You did really good last year! Congrats!

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  21. I think 5 of 10 resolutions is a huge success. I like that you were able to shorten up reviews. I'm constantly struggling to say less. And Stephen King books? Some are so long they should count for 3 books!

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  22. I think you did well in 2018! Yeah, I always avoid the Goodreads Challenge and don;t ever set a number goal for books - that would dissuade me from reading bigger books! I'd rather focus on quality over quantity - but, interestingly, I seem to read a few more books each year than the previous year!

    And good for you with Instagram. You're ahead of me! I don't have a smartphone (!) and Instagram is way too difficult to try to use on a laptop. Some day...

    I quit setting resolutions years ago - for the reason you said! I'd look to see how I did in December and realize I forgot all about them. Now, I have Lifetime Goals and set objectives for each one with specific, measureable targets - this breaks it down into small steps to keep me on track.

    Hope you do just as well in 2019!

    Sue

    Book By Book

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  23. These are some great goals and you did a wonderful job.

    Have you read The Stand by Stephen King? It's my all time favorite book. I recommend to everyone I know who wants to read King. Now, it's a project at over 1000 pages, but totally worth it.

    I tolerate Instagram, but I find Facebook is much more me. Thankfully, I can integrate my Facebook and Twitter pages with the Instagram account, so when I post a picture it automatically goes to Facebook and Twitter if I want it to.

    Here's Christianity in a nutshell: Christ died for our sins, so we are saved. I'm reading through the Bible chronologically this year. I've never done it before. If you're searching around looking for answers, your best bet is to stick to the New Testament. All the prophecy in the Old Testament makes no sense unless--and it's importance is kind of lost--unless you know what the New Testament is about.

    Blog Tours - I used to work for Pump Up Your Book. Dorothy is great. She is always looking for blog hosts. I also like Goddess Fish Promotions.

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  24. I think doing 50% is still a good amount. And it's great when you get to cut down your TBR at all so you should be proud for narrowing it down. And I love that you have acquired more translated books and hopefully you'll be able to get to them soon. I don't know how King manages to write such big books and in such a vast number either. The Christianity goal is really vague but feel free to ask me anything if you have any questions xD No guarantee I will be able to answer what you want to know though. Can I ask why you are interested in it?

    I love that you joined in with the Twitter chat! I need to try and do that a bit more.

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