Monday 5 January 2015

My Bookish Resolutions for 2015


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!



9 comments:

  1. 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!

    Tracy @ Cornerfolds

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    1. *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!

      Oooh 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 :(

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  2. 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.

    Also, 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 :)

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    1. 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

      I 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!

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  3. I am with you on the finishing series thing. I have so many to finish. Good luck with your goals! :)

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    1. Thanks 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 =)

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  4. I 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!

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    1. Awww, thanks Trish :D I like more simple styles, and nothing overly fussy, and I'm pretty happy with it =)

      I 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!

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