Here we are now in July, rolling down the hill of 2016. Time for the mid-year review! I find it difficult to think this is the first full year where I won’t engage in any formal education. The school year has nothing to do with my own plans. I began private tutoring a couple weeks ago and I started working another part job this week. I’m finding myself with more work hours than I anticipated. I know saving cash for grad school is my priority now, and more work is a good thing, but I wonder how it’s going to affect my blogging. I might need a few more weeks to settle into a new schedule (especially since I plan on spending many weekends at the lake!). Anyway! How am I doing on my 2016 goals?
- 64 posts (8/month when not travelling, twice a week, ideally one review and one other) – My two non-travelling months (January and June) were pretty well on track with this goal. July’s not off to a solid start, though I should be back on track by the end of the month.
- Improve writing style (be more precise, use less words) – I’ve done a lot of posts this year, including reviews and responses, that I’m pretty proud of. I think I’m making progress here (though you wouldn’t know it from this post, haha).
- Be more engaging (in posts and comments) – Bit by bit I’m working on this. I couldn’t do it so much in the first half of the year, but I’m trying to be more active on Twitter, find new blogs to follow, and leave more thoughtful comments.
- 55 books read (updated to 84 books) – I read 29 books while travelling, which was 29 more than I planned on, so I updated my goal when I returned. I’ve read 46 books so far, putting me 3 books ahead of the new goal. Hooray! I couldn’t be picky with what I read while travelling, so I haven’t made a lot of progress on the goals below. I think I can catch up on them by the end of the year, though. On the goals below, I’m not counting The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings, which I read annually.
- 2/10 books reread – I’ve reread two books: Charlotte’s Web and A Darker Shade of Magic. I haven’t yet reread any of the books I actually put on the list.
- 0/5 Japanese spirituality books – I’m 0 on this one. Most of the books I’ll borrow from a local university. I received one of the books on the list as a gift while travelling. I plan to tackle that one soon.
- 1/6 Tolkien-related books – I read The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien (which I just realized is also a reread). Most of the books on this list I have at home, so I should be making progress on this goal soon.
- 3/5 Canadian Indigenous books – On track. Hopefully I can easily surpass 5!
This time last year, I talked about quality vs. quantity and recapped the ratings of the books I’ve read so far. I didn’t delineate ‘read better books’ as a goal this year, because I have no idea how to do that other than by reading more books, but let’s take a look anyhow…
- I’ve read 9 ★★★★★ books, including 4 rereads. 5/8 five-star reads last year were rereads, so this is a small improvement.
- I’ve read 19 ★★★★ books. That’s also an improvement over last year, by 4 books.
- I’ve read 9 ★★★ books. That’s two less than last year. I really wanted to read less three-star books and more four- or five-star books, so it looks like I’m doing well!
- I’ve read 5 ★★ books. One more than last year. Three were books I read while travelling because that’s what was around. Two were books I was really interested in but they didn’t live up to my expectations.
- I’ve read 1 ★ book. Oops. The pretty cover and description lead me to request an ARC that turned out to be one of the worst books I’ve read in the past few years.
Looking at my 2016 Goodreads shelf reminded me of all the great books I’ve already this year. I feel like I’m doing better than in 2015. How is your reading going this year? Are you keeping up with any challenges, goals or resolutions?
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