Hi everyone. Well, 2019 is well and truly upon us. I can’t believe we are almost halfway through January already! A bit late on this post really but better late than never (I hope…). I’m going to share some of my hopes, goals and challenges for 2019 with you. Some of these are blog related, some are bookish and some are just about little old me.
I am such a list lover and goal driven person. I have a to do list every single day because it helps me to structure my time. So I’m hoping to use this post for some reflections later in the year. Something I never actually got around to last year.
We’ll start with some blogging goals. These are going to be quite different this year in comparison to last year. I tried to post almost every day lats year and in the last few months it all came to a halt because I was so burnt out with everything in life. This year I’ll be taking a slightly more relaxed approach to blogging, I hope you’ll stick with me!
- Post 2-3 times a week – a lot less than previously for me, but I would still like to post fairly regularly when my brain allows me too. I’m not going to be too strict on this one.
- Be more active – I go through phases with this. I get really good at comment sprees and then life gets busy and I fall out of the habit. I really need to get better at being consistently active within the community.
- More guest posts – both of my most popular posts last year were Q&A posts with UKYA authors. I would love to have more of those on my blog this year.
- Discussion posts – I really got into writing more of these last year and I would like to continue with that trend this year.
I’m not going to write any more goals than that for my blogging life. My blogging motto for this year is very much going to be ‘write when you can and when you want to’ rather than forcing myself during a time when maybe I don’t feel up to it.
Whilst some of my bookish activity goes hand in hand with my blog, I am setting myself a couple of goals this year for reading and bookish things.
- Read 52 books – this goal is a lot lower than usual but I really wanted to take the pressure away. Last year I read 93 books so I’m confident I’ll go over 52 but taking the pressure off will definitely be a positive.
- Audiobooks – I’d like to make more use of my Audible account and listen to some more audiobooks this year and not just use it for rereads of books too.
- More MG – I’ll continue to aim to read more middle grade books this year. I got better last year and discovered some fabulous books. I’m looking forward to more middle grade adventures.
- No to NetGalley – I mean, not completely because I couldn’t. But I will be much more selective when requesting on NetGalley and trying to only request titles I really am dying to read and will read in advance. I know, you’re all thinking “yeah right”.
- Backlist Books – I really need to read some of the wonderful fiction I already have on my shelves. This doesn’t mean I won’t be reading 2019 releases because of course I will. But I do need to get through some of the books I’ve owned for a long time and still have no idea what lies under the cover for me to discover.
- Readathons – I’d like to take part in more readathons this year as I really enjoyed a few last year so if you have any suggestions please do let me know in the comments.
Mainly I’m going to be reading whatever I want this year. I have a book of the month with two of my bookish besties and I may bring back monthly tbrs. We shall see!
I’m not going to be sharing my most personal goals here but there are a few things I’m going to try and do better this year and putting them here makes me slightly more accountable.
- Get fit – I’ve already joined the gym this month and started to go. I’m completing a half marathon in October so I really do have to get fit!
- Self care – in recent months I have been forced to get slightly better at this. It is a huge goal of mine in 2019 to put myself first. If you’ve looked at my 2019 bujo post you’ll have seen quite a bit of self care in there.
- Instagram – okay, a bit of a weird one but I want to make a bit more regular use of my Instagram account. Feel free to follow me @kellysrambles
- Journal – as well as my bullet journal being my pride and joy and full of lovely to do lists, I’m going to use it more for actual emotional journalling this year. It is something I’ve found great comfort in recently and it’ll be good to look back over my year at the end and hopefully see how fa I’ve come.
The main goal for 2019 is to get to the end of it and be able to look back and think ‘Kel, you did it’ and remember that it’s okay not to be okay.
What goals have you set for yourself for 2019?
What reading challenges are you taking part in this year? Have you set a Goodreads goal?
Follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Bloglovin’ or Goodreads. Comments are always warmly welcome.
kellysrambles.com 
i deifnitely agree w som eof these goals, i feel like i need to be more active too as i really slacked towards teh end of 2018
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Wonderful goals! Good luck with these. xx
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Best of luck with your goals!! I love writing discussion posts as well, and I wish I did more of them. Middle grade is my favorite! But I’m the opposite of you: I think I’m growing out of it lately, which makes me sad. If you’re looking for some middle grade recs, some of my favorites are The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg, Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi, Phantom of Blood Alley by Paul Stewart, Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer, Gordon Korman’s Titanic Trilogy, and Jonathan Stroud’s Lockwood & Co. and Bartimaeus Sequence series. 🙂
Eleanor | On the Other Side of Reality
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Wonderful goals! I’m hoping to post around 2-3 times a week as well, and want to do some guest posts too!
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Wishing you the best of luck with your goals! I definitely need to read books I already own this year, I’ve started picking books up from my shelf that I don’t even remember buying! It has gotten pretty out of hand!
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Good luck with your goals!
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Good luck with all your 2019 goals! I totally agree with you on setting a relatively low goodreads goal because if I make mine too ambitious I worry more about reaching the goal rather than reading books to enjoy them.
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Definitely! I think there are times in the year where I feel so pressured to read loads when actually I’m probably missing truly enjoying some books because I zoom through them. I want to make sure I enjoy them more!
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Good luck with all your goals. I apparently like the pressure because I have signed up for a lot of reading challenges this year and my Goodreads goal is 100. I think it helps motivate me. I also participate in readathons throughout the year.
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I usually set mine at 100 and usually reach it. This year I’ve put it at 52 even though I know I’ll read more. It makes my complex brain feel slightly less pressured. Good luck with your goals 🙂
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Last year was the first time I’ve ever read 100 books in a year so I thought I would try again this year.
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Love these goals! I’m a goal-setting fiend, too. Question: how do you make the most of your Audible subscription? I just finished my trial and am paying for the first time this month… I love audiobooks, but it still feels pricey…
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Sounds good! Best of luck, lovely ❤
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❤
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Good luck with all your goals! The most important thing is that you look after yourself and not feel so much pressure to achieve all of these if it means you run yourself into the ground. That was my biggest problem last year and so I’ve decided to focus more on self-care and doing what I want this year, so posting when I want to and am able to, reading only the books that I want to read and not feel pressured into reading because NetGalley can get quite addictive and then suddenly you’ve got 15 ARCs that need reading in a month!! I think the only goal that I’m aiming for is my Goodreads goal, which I’ve set at 50 and think is pretty doable!
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Thank you! I agree with you, I’ve had to learn the hard way how important self-care is for me and I hope I’ll be better at looking after myself this year.
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I’ve decided to not have any official goals or resolutions this year (though I do have a couple in the back of mind that I’m sort of half aiming for but not really). I did set a Goodreads goal, but I’ll lower it if I need to. I set quite a lot last year and while I achieved mosy of them last year was really stressful and the main thing I want to do this year is just enjoy it as much as I can.
I may end up making some eventually though because I’m not a very living in the moment type of person and while most of me is very happy with this decision my inner organiser is ringing alarm bells every time I say this 😂
I really hope that your goals all go well, and that 2019 is an amazing year for you 💜
Amy x
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I am with you there. I have to have some kind of goal/aim with everything in my life. It keeps my scattered brain more focused. I definitely want to be a more relaxed reader this year 🙂
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Good luck with all those goals! I try to keep the pressure away but I have so many books to read in so little time in January…
Self-care is the most important! x
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Thank you lovely. I totally agree that self-care is the priority! x
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