Hello, everyone! I've been on vacation and still am on the vacation, so don't expect much from the blog until after January 4th. But I am here to discuss what you can expect from my blog in the new year... :)
A.) Fewer ARC Reviews - That's right. I've almost finished reading all the 2015 ARCs I have - I'm ahead for once! wow! - and then I have to finish the four I missed from last summer. With those done and reviews written, I am done reviewing ARCs, at least for the present. I don't like the stress of it. I don't like feeling like I ought to be reading something simply because it's coming out soon. Most of all, I don't like how I keep falling behind on other books I do want to read more because their release dates are old.
B.) Tackling TBR/Reading Freely - You might see some older books being discussed here. I'm taking recommendations again, if anyone still remembers my old feature, Christina Reads Your Recommendations. I'll probably only read books that I'm interested in of those recommendations (because some really don't fit me, sorry), but I really loved that idea and I love getting to discover new books that might be old but are no less precious. I feel heavy and bad owning a lot of books that I haven't read. I'm not doing the author a favor in keeping these books, letting them acquire dust without me ever reading or discussing them; not doing myself a favor, what with the money I've spent on these books only to let their pages fade without me even bending their spines once. Most of all, I feel selfish having these TBR books when there are people who don't have the same fortune as I do, and may wish to have more books or books sold to them at a cheaper price than Amazon or Barnes & Noble etc. do. I'm going to read all of these and if I don't love them, my spring cleaning will not be merciful.
C.) More Graphics - Ever since high school, I have loved making graphics in photoshop. If it weren't for the fact that graphic design was so unrelated to my major in college, I would have taken that class. And also, I really love Pinterest. I think that's essentially my favorite of all the social media that I currently use. All the time on Pinterest I see a lot of really cool bookish related graphics and I want to make them too. I already have. My MBTI graphics consistently bring people to my blog. I want to start that feature again. I want to create some more graphics and so I will. I might even create graphics to review novels (short summaries, at least) - if I have the time.
D.) More Commenting/Engagement - What I miss most of all is feeling involved in the community. In a year and a half, I went from feeling like I was a full-time blogger, spending too much time on blogging and commenting though feeling very much a part of the community to being depressed and not wanting to give more of myself to others to getting over that depression but still not having enough motivation to return to the community to adapting to a new job to *here,* where I have adapted and I've got my own schedule, but I haven't tried to come back into the community. There's got to be a middle ground. I've come up with a new plan. Each week comment on the blogs of those who comment here, and comment on the discussion posts of those who I link to in my bookish rounds posts. If commenters here take too much time, then I won't do the latter that week. Simple, right? It's discussion posts I'd most like to comment on anyway, and people who visit and comment here, I would love to engage with you more. I also would like to get involved in the Booktubing community, so there's that too.
E.) Better Blogging / BookTubing - Here's the thing that most of all needs improvement: me. I'm lazy. It's weird because I'm also a perfectionist. But that's in relation to things I care most about, and since I've stretched myself too thin on some things, I've grown not to care about some blog posts or videos, and thus have been lazy about making them the best they could be. My thumbnails on my booktube videos could be improved. I could be better at promoting this blog and the channel. I could be less lazy about writing posts with content that I want. So, out of all these goals, the best one to have is to recover my enthusiasm for blogging and to push forward with booktubing. Renewed enthusiasm will make me better at all of the above.
What are some of your goals and resolutions? Is there anything you would like to see more of from me or miss from me?
P.S. - If you're looking for a bookish rounds post, I'm sorry. It's not coming until next week. While I'm in California, I just can't bring myself to work on job or a lot of blog related things.
P.P.S. - Not the New Year yet but still: Happy New Year!!!
A.) Fewer ARC Reviews - That's right. I've almost finished reading all the 2015 ARCs I have - I'm ahead for once! wow! - and then I have to finish the four I missed from last summer. With those done and reviews written, I am done reviewing ARCs, at least for the present. I don't like the stress of it. I don't like feeling like I ought to be reading something simply because it's coming out soon. Most of all, I don't like how I keep falling behind on other books I do want to read more because their release dates are old.
B.) Tackling TBR/Reading Freely - You might see some older books being discussed here. I'm taking recommendations again, if anyone still remembers my old feature, Christina Reads Your Recommendations. I'll probably only read books that I'm interested in of those recommendations (because some really don't fit me, sorry), but I really loved that idea and I love getting to discover new books that might be old but are no less precious. I feel heavy and bad owning a lot of books that I haven't read. I'm not doing the author a favor in keeping these books, letting them acquire dust without me ever reading or discussing them; not doing myself a favor, what with the money I've spent on these books only to let their pages fade without me even bending their spines once. Most of all, I feel selfish having these TBR books when there are people who don't have the same fortune as I do, and may wish to have more books or books sold to them at a cheaper price than Amazon or Barnes & Noble etc. do. I'm going to read all of these and if I don't love them, my spring cleaning will not be merciful.
C.) More Graphics - Ever since high school, I have loved making graphics in photoshop. If it weren't for the fact that graphic design was so unrelated to my major in college, I would have taken that class. And also, I really love Pinterest. I think that's essentially my favorite of all the social media that I currently use. All the time on Pinterest I see a lot of really cool bookish related graphics and I want to make them too. I already have. My MBTI graphics consistently bring people to my blog. I want to start that feature again. I want to create some more graphics and so I will. I might even create graphics to review novels (short summaries, at least) - if I have the time.
D.) More Commenting/Engagement - What I miss most of all is feeling involved in the community. In a year and a half, I went from feeling like I was a full-time blogger, spending too much time on blogging and commenting though feeling very much a part of the community to being depressed and not wanting to give more of myself to others to getting over that depression but still not having enough motivation to return to the community to adapting to a new job to *here,* where I have adapted and I've got my own schedule, but I haven't tried to come back into the community. There's got to be a middle ground. I've come up with a new plan. Each week comment on the blogs of those who comment here, and comment on the discussion posts of those who I link to in my bookish rounds posts. If commenters here take too much time, then I won't do the latter that week. Simple, right? It's discussion posts I'd most like to comment on anyway, and people who visit and comment here, I would love to engage with you more. I also would like to get involved in the Booktubing community, so there's that too.
E.) Better Blogging / BookTubing - Here's the thing that most of all needs improvement: me. I'm lazy. It's weird because I'm also a perfectionist. But that's in relation to things I care most about, and since I've stretched myself too thin on some things, I've grown not to care about some blog posts or videos, and thus have been lazy about making them the best they could be. My thumbnails on my booktube videos could be improved. I could be better at promoting this blog and the channel. I could be less lazy about writing posts with content that I want. So, out of all these goals, the best one to have is to recover my enthusiasm for blogging and to push forward with booktubing. Renewed enthusiasm will make me better at all of the above.
What are some of your goals and resolutions? Is there anything you would like to see more of from me or miss from me?
P.S. - If you're looking for a bookish rounds post, I'm sorry. It's not coming until next week. While I'm in California, I just can't bring myself to work on job or a lot of blog related things.
P.P.S. - Not the New Year yet but still: Happy New Year!!!