Wrapping Up 2022, Looking Forward 2023

Welcome to my 13th annual ‘Wrapping Up, Looking Forward’ post. In this post, I take a general look back at how I did with my goals in 2022, and set some new goals for 2023.

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Posting and Reading Overview

I posted 44 times in 2022. Still substantially less than 2020, but almost double of 2021! My loose goal for 2022 was originally 3 posts/week when I have the capacity, then reduced to 2 posts/week at mid year. This is always a lofty goal. I doubt I’ve ever come close to 104 posts in a year. (Not counting the exceptional 2020, I posted 82 times in 2018.)

I read 85 books in 2022. My original goal was 100 books, reduced to 80 at mid-year, tweaked to 84 as I up my reading goal by one for every two books I read under ~150 pages. I didn’t think I would get close to 80 – but participating as a round one Cybils judge bolstered my reading numbers in the final months! This also means I hit, for the first time ever, my goal of 52 middle grade books. I ended up reading 67 – SIXTY SEVEN! – middle grade books. So if you do some math, you can work out I only read 18 adult or young adult books

In summary, I’d say 2022 was an improvement over 2021 both in terms of posting and reading. My reading selection was less varied than I’d like, but I’m certainly pleased with the quantity. My posting consistency was not as good as in years past. But it’s an improvement nonetheless, and one I think I can continue building on in 2023.

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Personal Goals

• 36 middle grade fiction novels
  • I am taking a page out of my sister’s book club’s annual reading goals. 36 can be thought of as three books per month, with a little wiggle room each month.
  • I’m deliberately lowering this goal from 52 because I want to be intentional about reading more adult and perhaps even young adult titles in 2023.
• 2 posts/week when I have the capacity for it, with 1 post/week during lake time
  • Lake time being roughly July and August, maybe a bit of June and September. I’m building in this reduction to give myself some grace. Spending weekends at the lake means no computer and no internet and therefore no time to be spent blogging.
• 8 Family Reads
• 10 “I Can’t Believe I Haven’t Read that Yet”
  • Family Reads and “Can’t Believe” were conceived as monthly posting series. I do enjoy reading and writing for both, so I think if I do a little more intentional planning, I can reach these goals.
• 80 books read
• Review at last half of what I read in 2023
  • I only reviewed 25% of books I read in 2022
• Read more of the following:
  • Arctic exploration (especially books I own)
  • Tolkien criticism (especially books I own)
  • Japanese fiction
  • Middle grade fantasy of the variety I enjoy most (ex. secondary world or Narnia-style portal, lyrical prose, not action-adventure heavy)
• View count milestone
  • To be discussed later in a post about stats.

No community challenges this year, but don’t hold me to that if I pick up one or two later. I have expanded my personal goals quite a bit. The aim behind this is to have a little more intentional yet realistic guidance behind my reading and blogging.

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The last few years have been full of job changes and moves. Will 2022 be the year of stability?? I don’t want to make any guarantees… but I am optimistic! Here’s to a solid year of reading and reviewing in 2023.

How was your 2022 reading year? What goals or challenges are you undertaking in 2022?