New Year, New Me in 2023

Happy Monday and a happy New Year y’all! 2022 is in the books, and I am ready to move on to 2023. While the idea of “New Year, New Me” is a bit cliché and gimmicky, I like the premise behind it. I’m not really becoming a new person, but developing habits that will (hopefully) be added to my life in a meaningful way. I also like having somewhere to list my goals and be able to track them, and what better way to do that than out in the open for all to see 😉

2022 was a good year for the most part. I personally have struggled with depression and finding a way to balance the chaos of life. I failed most of the things I challenged myself to do last year because I was “too busy” doing other things. So for 2023, I’ll be focusing on prioritizing what matters the most and finding the balance I need starting with discovering how many spoons I have to work with each day….IYKYK. You can see my past resolutions by clicking here.

Bookish Resolutions

Read 125 books in 2023.

I know what you are thinking….”But Lillian, you only read 100 books in 2022. How will you read 125?” The answer is I don’t know, but I have lofty goals 😂 When I started tracking my reading at the end of 2013, I was averaging between 150-200 books per year. I read a lot slower now, and a lot of what I read is class material for Liam now that we homeschool. I also read a lot of books with him that I never count on Goodreads. That stops today! If I read it, it counts *stomps metaphorical foot* Picture book, counts. Graphic novel, counts. Audiobook, counts. Textbook, counts. Middle grade book, COUNTS. It all counts in 2023.

Make at least half my reads in 2023 from my TBR shelves (physical, Kindle, or Goodreads).

I had this same goal last year, and I have to say, I did a good job of keeping up with it. I read 100 books, and only 48 of those were new releases. The rest came from my TBR pile or old ARCs. I’m slowly culling my Goodreads TBR with the Down the TBR Hole meme making it more manageable and less overwhelming. I hope to continue that trend this year.

Listen to one audiobook a week.

Last year, my goal was to listen to one a month. I learned really quickly that if I’m struggling to focus on what I’m reading (which seems to be 99.9% of the time these days), if I switch to the audiobook edition, I wind up enjoying the read. That said, I listened to 36 audiobooks in 2022, and I’m already listening to 2 audiobooks to start the new year. Go me! 🥳

Raise my NetGalley percentage to 80%

This has been an ongoing goal of mine for a few years. 2015 was a hard year personally for me, and that is when my NetGalley & ARC reads fell behind. I did a decent job of working to catch up last year, even though my percentage didn’t go up. To raise my percentage this year, I’m going to hold off on accepting any books except from authors/publishers I regularly work with and read at least 50 books from my NetGalley backlist by July….wish me luck 🫣

Blogging Resolutions

Write reviews as I finish the books.

This one is so hard to stick to! I inevitably fall behind. However, I did a good job of keeping notes this year, making it easy to write the review when I fell behind. Right now, I only have two outstanding reviews (yay me!). So this resolution is more or less to motivate me to stay the course.

Post regularly AND blog ahead.

A few years ago, I did a good job of staying about a month ahead. I had a calendar where I kept a schedule of anything and everything I signed up for so I would know what posts were coming and what I needed to prepare. Then I started homeschooling, and all my energy went to planning that. There was just no brain space left for the blog. As a result, it has suffered.

My goal this year is to not only start posting regularly again (no radio silence, if I can help it). 5 days a week is the plan, though I’d like to post daily. Also, blog ahead. By the time this post goes live, I hope to have a week’s worth of post scheduled and ready to go.

Personal Resolutions

Write. That’s it. I want to write more this year. I had the goal and plan last year to work towards being a published author. And I did. I wrote and wrote and wrote some more. I’m proud of what I have so far, but I’m going to keep writing until I’m ready to share with the world. Maybe this year, maybe next, maybe never. We will see.

In addition to writing, I want to watch less TV, read more, make family time a priority, and enjoy life to the fullest. Many of you have shared your word of the year, which I’ll admit I didn’t know that was a thing. I’ve given mine a great deal of thought, and I decided on the word “Simplify.” I want to simplify my life, be disconnected from my phone and present in the moment. This doesn’t mean I plan to disappear on y’all, but rather my interactions will be more intentional, more focused. This means that I have to evaluate and say goodbye to some things to make room for the things that are most important. And for the first time in years, I can say I’m ok with that.

Your Turn! What are your resolutions for 2023? Any tips to meet mine? Share below

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