2014 Bloggish (and Bookish) Plans

2013 is coming to a close and it's time to start thinking ahead on 2014 and what I want to be doing with the blog. There won't be as many changes as I thought when I started this post, but there will be some. I've been trying to find a balance between everything, and this blog needs some balancing out. I would like to contribute something more than all the same, but I don't want to overwhelm myself with extra work.

So here we go...

End of the Month Updates

I really like doing the monthly updates versus the weekly updates. It's less time consuming and it is a lot easier to keep track of. And personally, I think it looks a lot better than my weekly updates did. The weekly updates were just too hard for me to keep up with. So, the monthly updates are here to stay!

Once a Month Non-Meme Post

I really REALLY got out of the habit of posting discussion and personal posts this year. Part of the reason why is probably because it takes a long time for me to write up a whole post about a certain topic. I'll get started on it, but never finish because I run out of time. Instead of putting up some out of reach goal, I want to start by at least putting together ONE post per month that isn't a review or meme or blitz or tour. It might be personal or it might be bookish. I just want to add a little more quality to my blog, which it has been seriously lacking for awhile.

Memes/Blitzes/Tours

While I'm not a huge fan of memes, I still like to participate in Stacking the Shelves once a month. I also want to once in awhile participate in other memes, like Top Ten Tuesday or Waiting On Wednesday, when I feel like I can put one together. There are certain TTT that have themes I feel I can make a top ten with, and sometimes there are certain books we really want to read and want to tell our blog buddies all about. So, why not?

As far as blitzes and tours go, I like to participate in some of these. Part of the reason why is because I'm an indie author and I want to help out other indie authors in promoting their books. Also, there are some that feature books I have read and want to promote. If my post can help them sell a book or two, then my job is complete. There are at least two friends who are putting out their debut novel in 2014, so I definitely want to do what I can for them.

Reviews

I've been able to manage one review a week on average this year, and I would like to keep that up for next year too. It would be nice if I could increase the number of reviews per month to average more like 6-7 instead of just 4-5. So, I'm going to aim for higher if possible, but as long as I can continue to write one a week, I'll be happy.

Reading Goals

I set a really high goal this year (of reading 75 books total), thinking it would be a piece of cake for me to reach it. Little did I know, I would have obstacles and slumps. So I started to read shorter books and children's books to add to the book total. It helped get me a little further ahead while I was waiting for more time to read longer books. I managed to reach the goal, which seems like a miracle, but I don't think I want to do that again. So, I'm setting my goal back down to 52 like it was in 2012. One book a week is a good goal. It allows me more free time to write like I want to in 2014.

I'm also going to continue with my goal of reading ONE classic book a year. I think it's a worthwhile goal for even non-readerly types of people. And by classic book, I mean anything published before 1980. There are lots of great books from the 50s, 60s, and 70s and they shouldn't be overlooked. I haven't decided which one I want to read yet, but possibly one of the three I didn't read this year (Anne of Green Gables or Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery or 101 Dalmatians by Dodie Smith).

There you have it!

That's all I can think of at the moment. Of course, I always adapt things through the year. I've adapted through 2013 to keep things fresh, and to keep me motivated to keep going on this blog. It's easy to get in a blogging slump but sometimes all you need is to change things up to get the love for blogging back.

Can't wait to see all of you around in 2014!