2016 Resolutions | TAG

Hello! (No Adele joke this time, I promise.) I’d usually have a Top Ten Tuesday post up today, but I decided to do the 2016 Resolutions Tag today instead, created by Trisha Ann @ The Bookgasm. I know we’re more than halfway through January 2016, but there’s still plenty of time left for completing resolutions, am I right?! I was tagged by Summer @ Xing Sings; Thanks, girl! I had been meaning to do a post like this earlier this month, but never got around to it—now I have reason to, haha. I know this sounds hella repetetive, but I promise you, Summer’s blog is absolutely lovely. Definitely go and show her some bloggish and bookish love!

Now, let us get onto the tag of really ambitious resolutions…

BOOKISH RESOLUTIONS

In 2016, I will…

1. Read at least 170 books.

I set my Goodreads goal to 200 this year, which I will admit might’ve been a bit too ambitious and a bit too unreasonable when taken into account the amount of time I’ll actually have to read. So I’ve decided that if I read at least 170 books, I’m satisfied. But of course, I’m still aiming for 200! XD

2. Diversify my reading. 

I really want to continue the trend of reading diverse books! I know there are a lot of them that I missed in 2o15 so hopefully 2016 is the year I’ll be able to read more of them.

3. Read the books I said I would read in 2015, but didn’t.

There are a LOT of books I meant to read last year, but didn’t, so I’m hoping to read those books this year! I’ll probably start with the ones on this list. Fingers crossed I’ll actually be able to read them this year!

4. Complete the ten series I want to read in 2016.

If you click on the link, you’ll be led to my TTT list of series I am hoping to read this year. I don’t know if I’ll be able to make it to all of them, but I really hope so. They all seem so great!

5. Refrain from buying too many books each month. 

I haven’t done many book haul posts for a long time, but let me tell you, I haven’t been holding back from buying books! I have been going waaaay too overboard. I should give mercy to my wallet! Not only am I quickly running out of shelf space, I’m spending way too much money.

6. Organize my Goodreads shelves.

I really want to sort out my TBR into smaller chunks. Make more shelves, categorize the books into priority and not-so-much-of-a-priority, you know? My TBR is absolutely enormous, but it’s all over the place. I’m hoping to change that this year!

7. Find the courage to send emails to publishers for ARCs I REALLY want.

I keep chickening out of sending emails to publishers! I’m hoping this year I might find the courage to do so. I don’t want to go crazy with my requesting, so I’m mostly thinking of requesting ARCs of books I really want. (Some sequels, some stand-alones,etc.)

8. Make a TBR jar…?

As you can probably tell from the question mark, I’m not as sure for this one. Maybe I will, maybe I won’t, you know? But the idea of it is definitely appealing! The TBR jars I’ve seen always look so pretty and it’s a good way to choose what book to read next off my TBR.

9. Visit the library more often (instead of the bookstore!)

Although bookstores are absolutely fabulous and bookworm heaven, I’d really like to visit the library more often as an attempt to lower the amount of money I spend on books. I haven’t been visiting it as often as I would’ve liked to, so hopefully that will change this year!

10. Make sure that at least 25-50% of the books I read this year are books I bought in 2015 or earlier.

I own way too many unread books, so hopefully if I follow this resolution I might be able to cut down on the amount of unread books I own. Fingers crossed!

BOOK BLOGGING RESOLUTIONS

In 2016, I will…

1. Have a wider variety of posts each month.

There are so many post ideas I have, yet I never seem to get around to writing them! I’m hoping to make 2016 the year where I actually get those posts written, whether they’re discussion posts, book reviews, book tags, whatever.

2. Try to post at least 1-2 discussion posts per week.

This one is one of the most ambitious resolutions, I think. Unless I had superpowers like Cait who is able to write tons of amazing discussion posts, that is. But alas, I don’t, so I’m just going to have to go off the fact that if I put in some more effort I might be able to post more discussion posts this year! Nothing wrong with aiming high, right? (That question is going to come back to haunt me, I know it.)

3. Reduce the amount of unpublished drafts I have.

The last time I checked (not that long ago) I had almost over a 100? Some of them date way back to when I first started blogging… Yeah, a clean-up is in order for sure!

4. Catch up on my tags and award nominations!

I appreciate SO MUCH (like, really, you have no idea HOW MUCH I appreciate this) all the nominations and tags bloggers have given me over the course of 2015! I promise I will try my best to get to them all this year. ❤ THANK YOU.

5. Be able to find a consistent balance between blogging and life.

I really want to find a good schedule that works for me! Right now I’m doing okay, but it would be tremendously helpful if I were to find a way to get a good balance between blogging and school. YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW HARD THAT IS. But I am trying!

6. (Try to) Reply to comments as soon as possible.

Often times school and life gets in the way in blogging, and I find it difficult to find the time to answer to comments sometimes! Which really sucks because I appreciate your comments so much and I love talking to you, yet I don’t always get to. So, this year, I want to stay on top of the comment game!

7. Become a blog-hopping pro. 

Now this one is kind of related to #6. With school and everything, it’s hard to always visit EVERYONE’s blog. I really wish I could visit ALL the blogs, but sadly I just don’t have the time and sometimes I’m just too lazy. Attempting to be a ‘blog-hopping pro’ is quite far-fetched, but I’m hoping to at least be able to visit the most blogs as possible this year.

8. Write book reviews more often.

I’m testing out different methods of reviewing right now, and as I have A HUGE pile of reviews that I want to write, I’m hoping to be able to write book reviews more often! Even 1 per week is better than nothing, right?

9. Be more active on Twitter.

It’s amazing seeing how much social media can impact our lives these days. Twitter seems to be a popular platform to meet and talk to other bloggers, which I’m always happy to do! So hopefully I’ll use it more often in 2016.

10. Schedule more of my posts.

WordPress offers the use of a great tool: scheduling! That way if I have a post ready to go, I can schedule it so that it posts automatically when I want it to. This could prove to be very useful at times when I’m really pressed with work—so I’m hoping to use it more often this year!

CAREER/ACADEMIC RESOLUTIONS

In 2016, I will…

1. Be more attentive in class.

It’s so difficult to stay focused sometimes! GAH, school. Why must it be so boring? Alas, there’s nothing to do about it other than manage to stay on top of it all. 2016: Time to focus!

2. Try to complete all homework assignments as soon as possible.

Although I’m usually pretty good at this, there are times where I end up prioritizing other things than homework, and in 2016 I hope to prevent that by finishing all homework asap!

3. Try my best to do well in school.

It’s my last year of high school, after all, and I don’t want to be slacking! XD I might as well put all efforts in now—it’ll only help me more in the future, right?

4. Keep my notes organized.

I usually do well enough with keeping notes organized, but I want to take it a step further and actually MAKE SURE that my notes are in order and good to use. Because we all know how hard studying without notes can be!

5. Make sure my locker stays organized.

It’s absolutely horrible when lockers are unorganized! Most of the time it’s really hard to find anything, and it’s never a good sight. So this year, I’m definitely going to focus on keeping my locker in a good condition.

PERSONAL RESOLUTIONS

In 2016, I will…

1. Try to be organized in all areas!

Whether it’s school, blogging, or simply just things I need to do, I want to keep organized. I love making lists, so I’ll probably start there. 😉 I know there are many more ways to stay organized though, so I’ll be trying out different methods!

2. Stop devouring all the chocolate I can get my hands on.

If you didn’t know already, I kind of love chocolate..!! And I probably have been eating too much of it lately (IT’S JUST SO GOOD) so hopefully I’ll be better at controlling my chocolate-eating habits. LOL.

3. Get over my fear of dogs.

I’m kind of stretching it here, as I had a fear of dogs for many, many, years now, but baby steps, right? Dogs are absolutely adorable, but I’m always too scared to be around them..!

4. Stop wearing mismatched socks.

I know this is kind of silly, but I have a habit of often wearing mismatched socks—and it’s gotta stop! Hopefully 2016 will be the year it does. 😉

5. Learn to not completely fail at baking.

Me and baking are well-acquainted with eachother…although perhaps not in the good way. Let’s just say I’ve had my fair share of faux pas in the kitchen, okay? There’s tons of delicious-looking recipes I always want to try out, and I really want to do them this year.

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Whew, it looks like I have a lot to do this year! I’m kind of curious as to see how it will turn out in the end—will I actually be able to complete these resolutions? It’s doubtful that I’d be able to complete ALL of them, but I guess we’ll just have to wait and see!

Now it’s your turn! You tell me: how ambitious are your resolutions for 2016? How ambitious do you think MINE are? Too much? Too little? 😛 Do you even make resolutions, or do you just go with the flow? Let me know whatever thoughts you may have below! (THAT RHYME THOUGH.)

Cheers! Hope you all are enjoying your Tuesday. ❤