My Bookish Resolutions for 2023

January 17, 2023 Top Ten Tuesday 12

Graphic: Bookish Resolutions for 2023

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature/meme now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. The meme was originally the brainchild of The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic is Bookish Resolutions for 2023.

My Bookish Resolutions for 2023

It would be easy to overwhelm myself with bookish resolutions, so I decided to limit myself to the six most important ones. In my mind, resolutions are different from challenges or goals, though they can be related. If you want to see my challenges, though, you’ll find them in my posts titled “My Reading Challenges for 2023” and “23 in 2023: A Reading Challenge (of sorts).”

Below are my bookish resolutions for 2023:

Keep writing. I did NaNoWriMo last year, and while I didn’t complete a first draft in a month, it did help me push through the initial fear and inertia, and got me to finally begin writing the idea that has been living in the back of my head for almost 10 years. So my number one goal for this year is to KEEP WRITING FICTION. Primarily the novel, but also a fanfic story I started a few years ago, and any other ideas that come to me.

Be braver about reading new-to-me books and authors. As I have mentioned before on this blog, I deal with anxiety. One of my coping mechanisms is rereading old favorites, and that’s fine; I have always loved revisiting “old friends” (favorite books and characters), and it’s a very effective strategy. But I realized last year that I have lost the fearlessness to try new books that I had in my youth. In 2022, I began pushing myself to try more new books and new authors (new to me, I mean), and I ended up reading some wonderful books. This year, I want to continue that trend.

Choose reading over screen time. I also realized last year that I spend a lot of time on my phone or on the computer—time I used to spend reading. This year, I want to reclaim some of that time for reading, and spend less time doomscrolling or poring through social media.

Write reviews. For several years now, I have been really terrible about reviewing the books I read. This year, I’m going to try to write and post more reviews, even if it means my reviews are sometimes shorter, less thoughtful, or less polished than I’m used to writing.

Read more diversely. This has been an ongoing resolution for several years, and it has slowly been increasing the diversity of the books I read. My aforementioned tendency to reread old favorites can get in the way, given that most of my favorite genres were long dominated by white writers. But in the last few years, I have noticed a definite increase in the availability of books by diverse authors and featuring diverse characters, which means it’s now easier to find and choose diverse books in my preferred genres (and beyond.)

Start pruning and reorganizing my book collection. My book collection has grown significantly over the nearly 30 years we have lived in this house, and it’s time to get it under control. I can’t just keep adding bookshelves, not if I also want our house to be livable! And frankly, my eyes can’t cope with really small print anymore, so there are books I own that I simply can’t read. Also, we hope to move to a different state when we retire, and that will probably mean less space for bookshelves. As hard as is to let books go, I think it’s time to begin the pruning process.

What are your bookish resolutions for 2023?

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12 Responses to “My Bookish Resolutions for 2023”

  7. Berls

    I love your resolutions — the writing is something I really hope to get back to, but realistically not until Dante is older and I just have more me time again. I relate to many of your goals – the reviewing especially. I’ve done better reading outside my comfort zone thanks to buddy reading this past year. Perhaps connecting with COYER buddy readers can help you with that one? I also really enjoy rereading favorites, so I totally get that!
    Berls recently posted…Tell Me Something Tuesday: Spin Off SeriesMy Profile

  8. Kathryn

    I really like your bookish resolutions and I wish you the very best with them. I find taking a book that I might not read otherwise, and just read a chapter a day or about 15 mins. That way I get to read something a bit different and then I can read my warm and fuzzy books at other times in the day.

  11. Katherine

    These are great resolutions. I definitely agree with choosing read time over screen time. I’m bad about spending precious reading time just vacantly scrolling on my phone.

  12. Literary Feline

    As Katherine said, these are great resolutions. I have really fallen behind with my review writing and told myself I would do better this year, but I’m finding it hard to find the time. I need to find ways to make the time or maybe look at more creative options to get them down more easily. I struggle with anxiety too, and although I am not a re-reader, I had to remind myself this past year when things were at their worst, that book choice matters. I definitely stuck to certain types of books the last part of the year and avoided others because I knew I wasn’t in the best mental place for them. I feel ready to get back into some of those other types of books now and am looking forward to mixing things up a bit. Good luck with all of your resolutions this year!
    Literary Feline recently posted…Can’t Wait to Read Wednesday: Georgie, All Along / Vampire Weekend/ VenCo / Speaker of the LostMy Profile