Reading Goals for 2018

You'd think that with my complete and utter failure of my 2017 goals that I would be a little smarter about what I choose to accomplish this year. Not going to happen, unfortunately, because as of January 1st, 2018, I am all about these lofty goals that I SWEAR I WILL ACCOMPLISH THIS YEAR!

So, here we go:

1. 2017/2018 Presidential Reading Goal

I am going to be more serious about this goal in 2018. I thought I had all the time in the year to get this one done in 2017 and then BOOM! A new writing project happened and all my time was directed at that project. This year, though, will be different. My Goodreads Challenge goal will coincide with this and my attempts to read more quality books, as there are so many great titles about these past leaders who, for better or worse, set the path which we now travel today.

2. Goodreads Challenge: 150 Books

This goes back to that quality over quantity thing mentioned in my first goal. I read a bunch of shorter books that really shouldn't count, but I did and now I will try to rectify that problem this year. I have to focus on my own writing as well, and realize that this may be the year where I do more writing and editing than actual reading. That thought is actually terrifying to me. Reading is what soothes me when life is crazy and I need to re-center myself. If I do not read for at least an hour a day, I get jittery. It's a legit addiction folks, but hey, it could be a lot worse.

3. Give NetGalley Attention!

2017 is the year I was reeeeeally lax on my NetGalley reading. Part of that again had to do with my Eleanor of Aquitaine project, but it also had to do with my obsession with BookBub and it just got way out of control. I have about 25 galleys on my Kindle awaiting to be finished - some even waiting to be started! It is my goal to put these books at the forefront of my reading in the start of the new year (or even here at the of 2017 still) and get that feedback provided. All are published now, but I can still review them and get the word out about the ones I really loved. This goal is a MUST! Aaaaaand it will totally help me get back above 80% again. Right now I am hanging right at 80%, which is just not good enough for me. Or major publishers who only look at that percentage and thus will not give me the books I so desperately want. (Case in point, Dan Jones' Templars book. It even says right there in my profile that Dan Jones is the bees knees and my fave historian, but I was denied a galley. My guess is that is was that pesky percentage. No worries though, I bothered Dan about it on his Facebook page and voila! A couple weeks later the galley was mine!)

4. Write a Damn Book Already

Okay, so technically yes I am doing this as we speak. I started back in February of 2017 and got lost in the readings and the articles and the primary sources and it has been wonderful. I am learning so much more about the period as I go - a period I thought I already knew so much about. I have the first few chapters written, and there will be much editing in those alone, while I am also delving into the meatiest part of Eleanor's life - her marriage to Henry Plantagenet, Henry II of England, their 'demonic' off-spring, her imprisonment, and finally the moment when Eleanor takes her rightful place on stage as one of the most powerful women in Europe while Richard is off at war (and then requires his mother to save him on his way home). My specific goal this year is to get the first draft done and submitted by August 1st, 2018. It is kind of scary to type that out, but I am also taking into account the fact that I do not have the luxury of sitting home and writing all day. I am still currently an educator in a very demanding and exhausting position working with emotionally disturbed 3rd/4th/5th graders. There are days I can not write because I am too tired to even think. But I have to power through because I know that this path is the best one for me, and in turn is the best one for my daughter. I hope future projects will follow, but first I have to get this one out there.

5. Buy Less, Read More

I have a serious BookBub addiction. Or, HAD, I should say. No joke, I had to quit using BookBub about two months ago because my Kindle was out of control. I have 700+ books on there right now, in addition to an out of control physical bookshelf (that I reorganized on Christmas Eve, to better help me accomplish my president goal. All the president books were blocked by all the Amberley books I have ordered in the last six months, so I will pretend that is the reason I failed at that goal for 2017: I couldn't SEE the books). I have far too many books to continue acquiring new ones at the rate I was there for a while. And I am supposed to be an adult who is fiscally responsible, so I'm just going to read what I have, sell what I want to, and THEN get more books. This will probably be the toughest for me, because turning down a deal on any book, physical or digital, is TOUGH.

What are your reading goals for 2018?

Happy Reading and Happy New Year!

Sarah