Narrowing down my top 5 bookish resolutions for 2015 was not an easy task. There are so many different things I want to do and improve on, however, I felt the ones I chose were the most important. Atleast for me. Now time to elaborate . . .
Read More Books
Now, when I say " Read More Books " I don't entirely mean just that.
I've seen other bloggers reach goals that were up in the 100's, 200's and even the 300's. But you know what? I'm so proud of myself for reaching a goal I didn't believe I would accomplish. I set my reading goal for 50, because honestly 50 books seemed like alot, and technically it still is . . . to me. I'm ecstatic that I surpassed my goal by 10 books, and even more ecstatic that others have done just as well on their Goodreads challenges.
With that said, I actually mean that I want to read a wider range of books. This year I read sooo much YA it was literally coming out of my ears. I read a ton of New Adult, but didn't dive into too many Adult books, which I'm quite disappointed about. For some reason, all the review copies I was receiving were for mostly YA, I had a few NA, and literally ONE Adult novel. * sighs *. I also want to pull myself out of my comfort zone and read more Fantasy, (this includes high fantasy as well * shivers *) Dystopian, * cringes * and many other genres that I may not have indulged in this past year.
The second part to this goal, is reading more books that I WANT TO READ.
When I first started blogging, I felt obligated to read EVERYTHING! I mean, this is what newbie bloggers are supposed to do right? WRONG ! I found myself accepting requests for review copies I knew damn well I didn't want to read. Around October, I was literally swimming in RC's, and soon found myself drowning in un-wanted books. By November I was so fed up, I stopped accepting copies for review. I started declining every request I received because I was up to my ears and was beginning to feel a bit overwhelmed. Now I know better and next year . . . well THIS year, I'll be reading what TIKA wants to read.
Become A Better Reviewer
According to my readers, I make some pretty awesome reviews. However, I haven't been completely satisfied with them. The problem is, my reviews are just too damn long lol. I'm a very chatty person, and when I write it tends to come out a bit lengthy as well. I love my reviews, but sheesh you can't lie and say that they don't resemble college essays! I always feel as if I've composed a freaking thesis paper for heavens sake! So when I decided to re-tweak my blog, I also decided to come up with a method that will help shorten my reviews. I haven't perfected it yet, being that I'm so used to going into such detail with my reviews, but don't worry it'll happen guys.
The second part to this goal, would be to make more discussion posts as well. I always have topics I want to talk about, but for some reason I always change my mind when I go to create a post. I love reading blogger's thoughts whether they're bookish or not, and I would love to get in on the discussion fun. This year fANGIRLconfessions will be generating some conversations, so make sure you join in!
Chat, Chat & Chat !
Okay so this isn't a huge problem I have, but then again it is. I started off being able to keep up with blogs, maybe because I wasn't following so many at that time, and then . . . I fell off . . . I think lol. For example, I'll come across a blog I love, follow it, comment a few times, then completely forget to go back and keep up with the posts. Bloglovin gets kind of overwhelming after you've followed a certain amount of blogs, making it hard to keep up with everyone. I found Google + to be my go to platform to remain informed on new posts and comments from my favorite bloggers. So far I've been doing good. Let's hope I keep it up!
Be more organized !
Lord. I cannot stress this enough. Be more organized Tika !
What's weird is, I'm a very organized person outside of the blogging world. I hate to procrastinate, so I tend to get shit done and out of the way. Now, I can't explain what happened, but around November (probably because of all those damn review copies) I really started to feel like I was all over the place. I want to:
- Be more consistent with posts.
- Stay on top of my reviews making sure they're clear, concise, and straight to the point!
- Continue to respond to comments. (Which I do very well thank goodness)
- Start scheduling posts, to make sure I'm working on things ahead of time.
I've also made a TBR jar, which I'll talk more about in a later post!
Stop Sugarcoating!
This is what bothers me the most, and I actually didn't realize I did it, until just a few weeks ago. I remember I wrote a review for an indie author. I got it posted, then went about my way. I stumbled across my review again on goodreads, and I was really pissed at myself because I felt as if I was sugarcoating my opinion. First of all, that's far from my personality. I'm usually outspoken and known to keep things completely one hundred. But, after reading the review I felt as if I wasn't completely honest . . . well I was, but I felt that maybe because I didn't want to come across as harsh, rude, or mean, I opted for a "safer" route. I'm definitely not continuing this in 2015. I was completely unaware that I would do this, maybe no-one ever noticed, because I didn't at first either. But sometimes you grow, and even though I've only been blogging for 5 months, I've learned sooo much. So Tika will definitely be sticking to her roots this time around. If I don't like a book or certain aspects in it, you'll definitely know it.
Oh and of course I'll keep it cute and classy, yall know I'm too fancy to be rude and unprofessional !
Anddddd that's a wrap! Those are my top 5 resolutions for 2015. I plan to stick to these goals in hopes that I will continue to grow, becoming the best blogger that I can be. I wish everyone the best of luck, and I hope we all continue to connect and thrive together within this community.
Let's get it bloggers !
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