First thing, I hope everyone had an awesome Christmas, and... HAPPY NEW YEAR!
I mentioned last year that I was hoping to tackle a blog redesign over Christmas… well, I kinda did. I created a private dummy-blog so I could go crazy and play around with code and designs without destroying this blog if I screwed everything up! When I began designing, I did go a little crazy and it ended up looking like a bunch of random miss-matched graphics barfed all over the place. Then, I swung too far the other way… and I ‘created’ a white box. With what I've settled on, I’ve ended up somewhere in the middle – I hope! It’s a little different to my current design, but it has a sort of similar feel… well, you’ll see it soon, and I really hope you all like it!
So, this is a little bit of a warning… I’ll hopefully start implementing it in the next few days. If things get a bit screwy, or you get a few hundred 2014 posts showing up in your bloglovin’ feed for no reason at all… you’ll know I’ve fucked something up and I’ll be having a full on meltdown trying to fix it!
This brings me onto my first resolution for 2015 – I want to start the new year off on the right foot, and I want to get the blog sorted out PROPERLY once and for all. I don’t think I’ll be posting much content over the next week; I want to focus completely on getting the design done, and straight after that, I’ll be working on my policies, review archives and all that stuff that I kept putting off last year. I think it’s best for me if I tackle the ‘housekeeping’ - (Erm, ‘blogkeeping?’ Is that a term??) – part first before I fully begin writing reviews and posts – we all know how much time that eats up!
My Resolutions, Goals and Plans for 2015
Blog re-design!
This one’s a bit obvious after reading the beginning of the post, but hey, it’ll be a resolution that I’ll actually complete! Huge WIN in the making ;)
Read 100 Books in 2015
I’ve set my Goodreads challenge to 100 books this year. I'd like to read 120 again… but I’m giving myself a little breathing room.
Fairytale Retelling Reading Challenge
I’ve signed up for the Fairytale Retelling challenge, hosted by Mel over at The Daily Prophecy. I love retellings, so this is the perfect challenge for 2015. I’ve signed up at the Big Bad Wolf level, which is 10-15 books over the year. Sign-ups are still open, so definitely try and join in if you plan on reading some fairytale retellings this year!
Re-Read!
Before blogging, I reread all the time and I will admit that I miss it. This year, I really want to allow some time to reread my old favourites. I’m planning on signing up for The Re-Read Challenge, and I’ll write a sign-up post very soon!
Find a Blogging/Life Balance
… and STICK TO IT this time!
A Little Less WoW
Not World of Warcraft… but Waiting on Wednesday. I love WoW, I really do, but I feel I need to cut back on these posts as I don’t have time to participate in the actual blog hop part of the meme on Wednesday evenings anymore. I will still participate whenever I can, but I don’t think it’ll be as often.
Schedule? What Schedule!?
I attempted to do the whole organisation thing last year, but I think I spent more time stressing out about trying to be organised rather than actually being organised. So this year, I’m throwing away any kind of blogging schedule, and just post a post when it’s ready. I will try for 4 - 5 posts a week, but no real pressure. I think this is manageable for me right now, and it’ll allow me more time to visit and read all of your awesome blogs!
Finish Some Series I’ve Started
… or at the very least, make an effort to continue them! I’ll probably do a separate post on this, but I NEED to finish dozens of series I’ve begun.
Enjoy Blogging!
All too often blogging can feel like a full time job, and for 2015 I really want to just enjoy blogging. Resolutions and goals aside, I think this should be my focus – all the rest will happen, no worries and all that good stuff :)
That just about wraps up my resolutions and plans for the year. I’ll be back to my more normal posting next Monday, hopefully with a new blog design!
Have a great week, and happy reading!
You're back!! It just wasn't the same without you! :P I'm super excited to see your new blog design! I have one coming sometime this month and I'm a little nervous about it, to be honest. I ordered it months ago and I'm kind of attached to my current one now... But we'll see. I think your resolutions are great! I hope you can stick to them. I know what you mean about the full-time job. Last year was my first in the blogging world and I actually found myself feeling guilty for not posting while I had the flu! Balance is definitely needed... So anyway good luck with your goals and happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteTracy @ Cornerfolds
*Waves* HIYA TRACY!! Ooh, I hope you had a fab holidays and Happy New Year! I'm a bit nervous about the new design, especially about getting all the code right! I wasn't worried with the tester blog, I just messed around and if an error message came up, I didn't panic... But with the real thing - yeah I'm a little apprehensive! Ok, a LOT apprehensive!
DeleteOooh you're getting a new design - I can't wait to see it! I love your current one, actually, and I'm sure your new one will be even more beautiful :D
Last year was my first blogging year, too, and it definitely can get stressful! This year, I want to take a more relaxed approach and see how things go. But, oh noes!! You were ill?? Oh gosh, I hope you're feeling much better now, being sick is the absolute worst :(
WOWOWOWOWO NEW BLOG REDESIGN! WOW. I'm excited to see what it will look like. AND YAY for getting that out of the way! Doesn't it feel good to complete a resolution before January even ended? Haha. Maybe you could find some way to take the blog offline? Then implement the code. I don't know.
ReplyDeleteAlso, yeah scheduling posts never worked for me either. I always found it better to just make a post whenever I had the time. LOL Alma stop playing World of Warcraft. I do actually really like the idea of Waiting on Wednesday, but I just never had the time to create a post for it. Maybe I should do the meme once a month? I do have a lot of books I'm anticipating.
AND YES HAVING FUN IS THE BEST THING YOU CAN DO. I hope you accomplish all these resolutions Alma! And HAPPY 2015 :)
OOOHH GOSH YES! It's awesome to feel like I've got something done that I've been putting off for what seems like forever! I like the design - it's kinda clean and simple. I personally favour more subtle designs, so I tried to reflect that a bit :D
DeleteI love having a few days of posts done in advance... but I find it's IMPOSSIBLE to keep it up for the long haul! This year, I'm not going to stress about it - and LOL, I'll probably become a bit more organised as a result!
I am with you on the finishing series thing. I have so many to finish. Good luck with your goals! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Jazmen! It's amazing how quickly the amount of series add up, isn't it! It's so hard to keep up to date with them all =)
DeleteDefinitely is!
DeleteI LOVE the new design. It's eye catching but still very plain and uncluttered which I always admire. Good luck with your goals, I am always struggling to find a blog/life balance. It's hard because blogging just spreads out to fill all available time and more! And I'm going to bang through loads of series this year too, hopefully!
ReplyDeleteAwww, thanks Trish :D I like more simple styles, and nothing overly fussy, and I'm pretty happy with it =)
DeleteI know the feeling that blogging keeps eating up time! I have a never ending to-do list, and no matter how many tasks I cross off, a dozen more are added each day, lol! For me, the only way I'll get a handle on it is to not stress about it - hopefully it'll all work out in the end!