2016 Challenges Sign-ups!

One of the ways that I'm keen to get involved in the blogging community is to participate in more blogging challenges. So I'm signing up for a bunch now, and if you know of any good ones out there that I should hit, please let me know!

1. 50 Book Pledge

I want to read 150 books this year, so I'm in again on 50 Book Pledge. My profile is here.

This one is year long.

2. 2016 New Release Challenge   

This one is about reviewing books released in 2016. I'm going to be aiming for New Release Enthusiast (45+).  My goal for reviewing is about 104 through the year, so 45+ from 2016 alone should be quite do-able.

Another year long challenge.



3. Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2016

My goal for this one is Mt Ararat, which is 48 books from my TBR pile (i.e. books purchased/received prior to 2016). I have a huge back list and I really need to cut it down to size. So I'm aiming for four books a month from my TBR pile.

Another year long challenge!




4. COYER

So COYER runs from December 19th to March 4th. It's all about reading the freebies or nearly free books. I have a lot of Kindle freebies. So many. Plus review books. I'll aim for four of these that will double as my Mount TBR pile, and four from my review stacks.

This is a first quarter challenge!

5. 2016 Reading Assignment Challenge 

This is for the whole year. I'm going for reading level 2 - 2 books per month. This challenge asks you to make a list of all the books you are committing to read, and then check them off on a monthly basis.

My list is the following:

1. Miss Mayhem by Rachel Hawkins
2. Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas
3. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
4. I am Princess X by Cherie Priest
5. Manners & Mutiny by Gail Carriger
6. Frost Burned by Patricia Briggs
7. The Madman's Daughter by Megan Shepherd
8. The Collector by Victoria Scott
9. Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen
10. The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
11. Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine
12. Reap the Wind by Karen Chance
13. Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost
14. Magic Lost, Trouble Found by Lisa Shearin
15. Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch
16. The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
17. Reckless by Cornelia Funke
18. Shooting Scars by Karina Halle
19. Outcast by Cheryl Brooks
20. North Pole Reform School by Jaimie Admans
21. The Duchess War by Courtney Milan
22. Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter
23. Three by Jay Posey
24. Indexing by Seanan McGuire

6. 2016 Bookish Resolutions Challenge

This challenge is the biggie. This challenge is basically a to do list to accomplish over the year. The requirements are basically, choose at least two of Reading/Personal/Blogging and insert two-three sub-goals for each. But I'm going to go above and beyond! 

Reading Goals:

- get my Netgalley percentage up to 90% and keep it there (I'm at 84% currently)

- read 150 books this year

- read 1 book from Goodreads' Choice awards per month (doesn't have to be a winner)

- create a prioritized TBR list 

Personal Goals:

- lose 35 lbs

- deep clean/declutter/organize all rooms of my house (counting them as 26 - including closets, stairwell, kitchen as 2, living room as 2, library as 2 and rec room as 2 due to split functions, so roughly 2 per month)

- write 500 words, 5 days a week, 48 weeks of the year.

- keep an up-to-date wall calendar so my husband has a reference point for family activities.

- duolingo 5 days a week, 48 weeks of the year (rotate languages if need be).

Blogging Goals:

- post 2 blog posts per week, minimum

- by the end of February, have created a buffer of 3 weeks on reviews 

- maintain my goodreads/amazon/50 reads accounts with reviews and read books as I read through 2016

- catch up on all outstanding goodreads/amazon reviews from 2015

- set dates for two themed weeks this year (all fairy tale updates or debut authors or YA-science fiction or something or specific publisher week). I'm already thinking I'll do a week of the different Harlequin lines leading up to Valentine's Day.

- tidy up tags

- make indices by rating, author, genre, year reviewed for past reviews, and create a spreedsheet to track, including publisher information

2016 Resolutions

Hello!

It's me!
I'm here!

I know it's been a while.

I've been checking in periodically since the start of November, usually with blog tours that I committed to in October, but otherwise it's been ages.

So, to be perfectly honest, I got caught up in Nanowrimo (success), and then in editing a couple of projects (finished now), and then in the Christmas holidays. 

I also got burned out with some generic reviews I should have written and posted, and couldn't seem to motivate myself to do. I made that mistake of reading four or five books really quickly, and not reviewing any of them right away. 

Next to getting stuck trying to read a bad book, that's my blogging kryptonite. Backlogs are a problem for me.

So!

Moving forward, here's my pledge to you for 2016:

Two reviews per week. Loosely, I expect Tuesday/Thursday to be my posting schedule on these. 

I may do more, but I'm aiming to always do Tuesday/Thursday.  

I'm going to do a mix of books that are going to be released, and books that were released in 2015 that I have ARCs of and haven't gotten to reviewing. No book left behind. That is my policy!

Things I would like to do?

• More challenges. I've got a list to sign up for - COYER, the Mount TBR reading challenge, Bookish Resolutions. I'm kind of attracted to the Reading Assignment challenge as well (and it would mesh well with COYER and Mount TBR). Are there other challenges out there that I need to know about?
• Two themed weeks. I loved doing Cinderella stories in the spring and Christmas in October last year. I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for a good time to run a themed week 
• More non-review posts. Sunday updates, Top Ten Tuesdays, Book Rants, whatever. Are there regular memes out there I should check out?  Let me know! I want to get more involved!
• Writing updates. I'm focusing on my own writing this year (instead of on editing), and so I may occasionally check-in with how that's going.
• Updating my site with a listing of reviews done by year, by genre, by rating, by author. I want to create some lovely indices that will make browsing previous reviews much easier.
• Cleaning up my post tags because ZOMG they're useless for users of the site right now.

Comment below with challenges I should check out, books I should be reading in 2016, things you'd like to see on my site, what you have planned for yours (or links to your posts about 2016 plans!)

Come back shortly for my 2016 Challenges post!

Blog Tour: Coming Apart at the Seams by Jenna Sutton

Hey folks!  Long time, no see!

It's been a very hectic six weeks for me, and with the incoming holidays, I'm not seeing signs of a slowdown any time soon.

That said, I have a backlist of reviews that I'm hoping to get to beginning next week, and finishing through January.

Now, with that out of the way, today I am delighted to be hosting a tour stop for the wonderful Coming Apart at the Seams, the second book in Jenna Sutton's Riley O'Brien & Co series. Released by Berkley on December 1st, this book takes us back to the O'Brien family, this time to address Teagan's love life (or lack thereof). 

Check out the other stops on the tour at Tasty Book Tours.