Top Ten Bookish Goals for 2013 (#13)

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week they will post a new Top Ten list that one of the bloggers there at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join!

Today’s topic is my Top Ten Bookish Goals for 2013. This was surprisingly difficult to put together because I wasn’t really sure WHAT I wanted to do this year! Nonetheless, I did manage to pick ten things; we’ll see how well I do with goals, especially since I’m not terribly good at keeping to my resolutions!

1) Read at least 75 books.

Pretty self-explanatory. I managed 100 books read in 2012, but just barely. I want to leave myself more wiggle room to account for the inevitable reading slumps that I go through, and also give me a buffer when work just gets too crazy.

2) Develop and keep to a review posting schedule.

I am more of a “wing it”-type girl, but that doesn’t really work when you want to have fresh and interesting content on your blog. Setting up a posting schedule will (hopefully) help keep me on-track, and also help with goal number 4 below.

3) Read all of the Missouri Association of School Librarians (MASL) Nominees for the 2013-2014 school year.

Okay, so, here’s some background to better explain this one. I am currently working as a Library Media Specialist in an elementary school in Missouri. Each school year, a committee nominates a certain number of books for each grade level (K-3, 4-6, 6-8, and 9-12), and the librarian at every public school in the state is required to introduce the students to the books aimed at the school’s grade levels. For the K-3 students, the librarian reads the books to them (they’re picture books), but for all the other grade levels, the students themselves read the books, and then vote for their favorites. Since my school includes students in grades K-6, I do the Show Me books (K-2), Mark Twain Award books (4-6) and, starting this year, the Truman books (6-8). I want to read the books so that a) I can actually talk intelligently about the titles and feature any of them that I think are really great and b) actually say “yes” when they ask if I’ve read one of the nominees (I’ve read NONE of the nominees for this school year). I also think that, if I’ve read them and enjoyed them, they MIGHT be more likely to pick them up themselves. It’s worth a shot, if nothing else.

4) Stay on top of my e-galleys.

I have a LOT of trouble staying away from the galley sites like Edelweiss and NetGalley. There are just SO many good titles available for review and I want to read them all! But requesting titles means I need to ultimately read and review them, which I was not so good with in 2012. My goal for this year is to get all of my galleys read prior to – or right after – their dates of publication, so I can uphold my part of the whole “requesting galleys for review” deal.

5) Read outside of my usual genres.

Of late I’ve read pretty much only YA and MG books. I’d like to try to incorporate some other genres (classics, nonfiction, romance, etc.) into my reading this year, but with the galleys I’ve already requested and the new releases I’m super anxious for, we’ll see how well I actually do with this!

6) Complete all of my 2013 Reading Challenges.

You can see my 2013 Challenges here. Most of them should be doable; the only one I see myself potentially struggling with is the Where Are You Reading Challenge, because I’m not sure how easy it really is to find books set in each of the 50 states.

7) Read at least one book from my existing collection (not counting e-galleys) a month.

My bookshelf is literally jam-packed, and I have a to-read pile next to it that’s nearly up to my hip. And that’s not counting the books currently residing in a plastic tub in a storage unit. My goal is to get through at least one of those books each month, which should be extremely easy, seeing as that’s only 12 books.

8) Don’t worry about reviewing everything I read.

This might be a weird thing for someone who reviews books for a blog to say, but there were definitely times last year when I just … really didn’t want to worry about writing a review. I will continue to review all galleys and anything I accept for review from authors, obviously, but those “fun” reads or books I just pick up as impulse picks at the library may not get reviewed, unless I really really want to. Considering that I do this for fun, I want to make the entire process as enjoyable as possible.

9) Read for fun!

This sort of goes along with goal #8. I love reading, and don’t ever want it to feel like a chore, or like I’m forcing myself to read when I just really don’t want to. I also don’t want to just be reading review requests or galleys. This is just a reminder to pay attention to how I’m feeling and make sure I’m making time for books I want to read just because I want to read them.

10) Celebrate my birthday month (June) by reading only what I want; no e-galleys unless I want to!

Cassi, one of my Goodreads friends, did this last year, and I absolutely loved the idea. By keeping to the posting schedule (see goal #2), I can make sure my galleys for that month are taken care of, and allow myself to read only what I really want to read. Or, if the mood strikes, read nothing at all. We’ll see what strikes my fancy when June rolls around!

So those are my bookish goals. What are yours? Please link me!