Goodbye 2019: Checking My Goals for 2019 and Making New 2020 Resolutions!

Hi, and welcome to the new year!!!

It feels surreal to be saying 2020 (I’m usually good about switching years when I write the date, but this one will be next to impossible to remember), but it almost feels hopeful? Maybe that’s just me being wistful.

I’m very excited to be back and talking about my goals, both old and new! I reached 10/16 of my 2019 goals, and while not the Best I could have done, I think it’s still pretty good, considering I had almost no motivation to do anything in 2019!

Note: I am so so sorry to have abandoned my blog yet again in December, but I truly needed it. (It was my worst month of the year.) I’m so excited to be blogging again, but to post everything I want to this month, I’ve decided not to post a December monthly wrap-up! Missed you all so so much, and thanks for still supporting me even when I’ve disappeared. <33

2019 GOALS

 READING 

• Read 100 books. ✓ I had to cram in 7 books in 2 days in November, and then 5 books yesterday, but I DID IT!!! Never again letting myself fall so far behind, because that was the worst.

• Actually start writing reviews again! ㄨ Yeah, definitely failed this one. I pretty much only reviewed books that were ARCs, and while I convinced myself it was a time thing, it was also just a laziness/lack of motivation thing.
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• Be more organized with ARCs. ✓ Apparently, by organized I meant “read and review ARCs on time”, which I did! Mostly!! (Haven’t posted my Girls of Storm and Shadow review yet, but I didn’t want to post it early and have it affect sales since it’s, uh, negative.)
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• Read more webcomics! ✓ I’ve read so many new webcomics and I’m so happy I did!! I really can’t believe I read Lore Olympus, Heir’s Game, and Castle Swimmer all in 2019, because I feel like I’ve loved them FOREVER.

 WRITING 

• Continue working on my WIP! ✓ I did! The WIP in question was the one I wrote a few chapters of and submitted to a writing contest (and won!), so that’s neat!!
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• Come up with other book ideas. ✓ I came up with a new project that I wrote 10k of for NaNoWriMo, but it was terribly plotted (as in, not plotted at all). But maybe when I feel like plotting, I’ll return to it?

a golden snippet I just discovered

• Write more poetry! ✓ It’s not really a LOT more poetry, but I did write a few poems now and then! And I also wrote more (very sad) poems in December, and they were in a different format than I usually do so that’s cool!
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• Write 5K in one day. ㄨ Yeah, I don’t think I’m going to reach this goal ever. I wrote 3k in one day during NaNoWriMo, which was a big feat for me, but even that took a lot of brainpower.

 BLOGGING 

• Reach… 2,000 followers?! ✓ I did!! I’m not big on followers and all that, but 2k is such a big number to me and I’m so grateful for all of you for sticking around with me as I’ve struggled, and thankful that more people want to read what I have to write!
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• Actually interact. ㄨ You guys know I struggle a lot with this, and I struggle a lot with being okay with that fact, so I’m not going to make some big rant about it. But I’m just… so very sorry. (I’m looking at my mid-year goals check-in and apparently I WAS doing this… but then I stopped.)
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• Implement a cool feature or something. ✓ I hosted the 2019 Book Blogger Awards, and I loved it so much! While there were some bumps in the road, it overall felt amazing to boost and uplift so many bloggers

• Just. be good to myself. ㄨ Yeah, again. I’m really really terrible at not beating myself up over how bad I’ve been at blogging. So this was a complete fail!

 LIFE 

• Practice self-care. ㄨ To be honest, I got worse at self-care in 2019!! I slept even less, practiced hygiene even less, and drank even less water.
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• Listen to more music and watch more shows! ✓ I think the only thing I want to say for this is: Miraculous Ladybug.

• Do more dance stuff! ✓ I’m performing a solo in my spring show later this year, which is TERRIFYING to me but also very exciting!! And over the summer, I branched out of my comfort zone and signed up for a hip hop class!
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• Prioritize my happiness. ㄨ I’m really not sure what I meant by this vague goal, but I don’t think I accomplished it. The whole year felt like a haze to me, and I never got out of that cycle of feeling and doing nothing, because it was so hard to. So no, I didn’t prioritize my happiness.

NEW 2020 GOALS

 READING 

• Read 100 books. Same goal as always! 100 is always a good number for me, because it’s not so outrageous that I know I’ll never achieve it, but it’s also not too easy for me (or so I’ve thought and been proven wrong).

• Actually start writing reviews again! A goal stolen from last year, because it’s relevant again! I want to make review-writing a regular thing again, because it’s something I truly enjoy. I’m really excited to (hopefully) get back to it!
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• Keep better track of my reads. I’ve been really bad at keeping up with my reading spreadsheet, because I was so focused on reading rather than tracking different stats about what I read. And it’s terrible because now I have 30 books to put into my spreadsheet!!
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• Reread whatever I want. In 2019 I tried to hold myself back on rereads, and honestly, why? Rereading is one of my favorite parts about reading in general!! I’ve worried so much about missing out on other books because of rereading, but at this point, rereading is bringing me more joy than new books, so why not!!!

 WRITING 

• Finish a WIP. I’m feeling so unmotivated about the two projects I have right now (especially since one is… completely un-plotted), but god I just want to finish writing a whole draft of just one WIP!!
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• Write more poetry. I sorely miss writing poems!! I think poetry allows me to be more artistic than regular prose writing, and it’s also so cathartic. Specifically, I want to write at least 5 poems a month, which should be really easy, if only I make the time for it!

one of the less sad parts from a recent poem (yes I know it’s a weird style!!)

• Write 50K words. I think to be more successful at writing, I need to set an actual word count goal for the entire year! This is the first time I’m trying this out, so I have no idea if this is a good goal for me or not, but we’ll see.

 BLOGGING 

• Reach 2,400 followers. I never really obsess over follower counts or stats, so this is honestly more of an estimation of what I think I’ll be at at the end of the year! (My brain wants it to be 2,500 for a nice round number, but I honestly don’t think that will happen.)
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• Actually interact. Yeah, I’m setting this goal again, because I absolutely FAILED at it in 2019. I’ve been so bad at this for so long that I’m afraid I’ve lost my touch with it forever, but this is honestly truly my biggest blogging goal for the year.
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• Host the 2020 Book Blogger Awards! I am very excited to do this again, and I’ve already started planning/thinking about what to do this year!! I sincerely hope certain events from last year don’t repeat, and I also hope that the changes I’m implementing will be for the better.
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• Just. be good to myself. Stealing yet another goal! The self-loathing in relation to blogging has gotten worse with my blogging breaks in both November and December. 2020 is going to be the year that changes!! Please!!!

 LIFE 

• Practice self-care. Again, I fail at this VERY badly, which is all the more reason to include it as a goal. Hygiene, sleep, water, and just relaxation in general is very hard for me, and I just want to get better at all of it okay!!
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• Listen to and play more music! I have a habit of only listening to one artist every few months, and I want to change that. Also, since I’ve dropped art and joined band this year, I’ve been really enjoying playing music even more (especially since I’m learning drums versus my usual piano)!

Wallows, aka my current wh”artist of the month”

• Get a job! I really want to earn my own money and have a source of income, even it’s minimum wage, because not only is it a good life skill, it also looks good on college resumes and I want that cash!! (I am HONEST on this blog.)
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• Prep for college. I really wish I could put a goal like “stress less about grades!”, but realistically 1) I’ve been putting pressure on myself for getting the Highest grades for so long that I can’t stop, and 2) I need to start prepping for college/university (whatever you call it)!!

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how did you do on your 2019 goals? do you have any for 2020? tell me one of them! have any music artist recommendations for me? I hope your new year was off to a great start!!