From my point of view, 2011 has been a successful blogging year. I think my followship has grown and even if I don't get comments on every entry, I believe my reviews are still getting out there into the community. Nonetheless, blogging will always be a work in progress. I have some goals for 2012 I want to see fully developed on my blog with the great hope that it will continue to grow my blog readership, my own views of the blogging and reading community, and to continue to develop my discerning reading skills (and my writing which is still just so-so). So with that in mind, here are some goals I hope to accomplish in 2012 in regards to my blog.
1. Read more from my backlist book. My hope is that once a month I can read and review a backlist title, something that was published in 2010 or earlier. I do this very little on the blog and there are so many "older" titles that still deserve a readership. I figure even I can accomplish one backlist title a month.
2. Read something outside my comfort zone. To be a better librarian and frankly, a more well-read citizen, I really need to read something outside my comfort zone (which would be YA contemps, romance, and some YA dystopians and historicals). I'm not sure exactly what form this will take. I know I've started listening to audio books again which was definitely outside my norm for several years. But I hope to try to read light fantasy or sci-fi, something that I can use to help my career also, to better serve the kids and teens that walk into my library. I hope to do this once per month also.
3. Stop reading a book when it doesn't work for me! I know a lot of readers have 50-100 page limits. Not me, even when a book is absolutely terrible, I keep reading. It's just been a habit I've gotten myself into, and not necessarily a healthy reading habit. Many of the blogs I admire (Dear Author, The Book Smugglers) have DNF categories. This is something I need to become more accustomed to. I have so many books to read that I should not be wasting what precious little free time I have on books that aren't working for me.
4. Just say no to ARCs! This really relates more to the fact that I have such a backlog of books to get through than anything else. I have not even read half of the galley copies I got from BEA and ALA back in May and June. But yet I spent all this money mailing them home, only to have to then move them from Colorado to Minnesota, and still they sit there. I'm not doing that again. While I do have plans to attend ALA in June, I won't be going galley crazy. If there is something I really want, I won't stop myself from getting it but I cannot keep picking up so much. This goes for publicity companies sending me books too. Just say no. It works for drugs it will now work for books for me.
5. Try to develop an original feature. I really don't have many original features on my blog. I mostly do reviews with a smattering of library talk thrown in for good measure. I don't really participate in too many memes either so there isn't a whole lot of content outside of reviews. I keep hoping a great idea will strike me but I'm happy to collaborate on a new feature with another blogger if anyone has any ideas. I realize how important other content is (outside of interviews and guest posts even) so I really hope to develop something in 2012 that can be a new reason for visitors to come to this blog. I want to become more of a presence in the blogging community and I'm hoping a better developed feature will lead to that goal.
6. Read so much more! In general, I just want to read more and not stress about the blog so much. So what if I don't have new content every day? I'm only one person. I'm sorry but it's just not feasible for me to always have something on the blog, much as I strive to. And next year, working on a new YALSA committee will also take up more of my time so there is a chance blogging may be a little less prolific.
7. Comment more! Yep, it's that goal every blogger sets. But my hope is that I can leave one comment per day on a blog. More would be wonderful! I hope to reach outside the blogs I already do comment to and make connections with blogs I've always admired. There are so many great blogs out there and I know how happy I feel when I get new comments, I definitely want to share that feeling with other bloggers.
8. Read 200 books! Yes, that was my goal THIS year but I'm still about 28 books short and I doubt I'm going to read that many before January 1 rolls around. I will do it next year, I will! (I think I can, I think I can!).
8. Read 200 books! Yes, that was my goal THIS year but I'm still about 28 books short and I doubt I'm going to read that many before January 1 rolls around. I will do it next year, I will! (I think I can, I think I can!).
As of now, those are my seven main goals. I don't want to go too crazy and have so many goals that I can't accomplish any of them. I think these are worthwhile goals to pursue. And hopefully I can say at the end of 2012 that I accomplished all of them.
In the mean time, here's Stella wishing you a happy holidays! Look for some best of lists in the reminder of the year, best of Sarah lists I mean.
