I used to participate in Top Ten Tuesday when I first started blogging and it was a wonderful way to meet fellow bloggers! I thought with coming back from a hiatus, and a bit of a lack of inspiration on my part, participating again would be a great idea. So, every Tuesday (if the topic interests me) I’ll be sharing a Top Ten Tuesday post. Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl! Make sure to check out her page explaining everything you need to know, including future topics. 

---

Hi! I’m back!

And that’s about all you’re going to get from me on this first post back after an 8-month hiatus. It seems all of my official “I’m back” type of posts are a whole lot of bad luck because I never actually stick around. So, I’ll give you life updates in my bi-weekly Sunday Posts just like I used to. For now, I am just going to share 5 of my 2023 bookish goals and 5 reading challenges I’m going to participate in! First up, the goals:

---

2023 GOALS

---

1. Focus more on how often I read, less on how many books I read.

Ever since I joined the online book world, I have found myself focusing more and more on the number of books I read. When I don’t hit some arbitrary number, it makes me feel like I’m falling behind. It absolutely robs me of the joy of reading, which causes me to not read at all. So, this year, I just want to make it a priority to read, no matter how long it takes me to finish the book. Just read – and read what I want, too.

2. Post 1-2x per week to the blog, but only if it makes me happy to share.

Whenever I try to come back to blogging, I go in with a plan – and that plan is always a little too ambitious. I put too much on my plate right away. This year, I want to post at least once per week, twice at most, at least for a little while as I ease back into this – and only when I genuinely have something to say and am excited about it, not just to get a post published.

3. Spend 5 minutes, 3x per week on my fantasy novel.

This sounds like it wouldn’t be enough to actually make a dent in anything, but the overall hope here is that those 5 minutes will turn into more. In fact, the first day I did this, 5 minutes turned into 40 minutes worth of reacquainting myself with my characters and more brainstorming. But let’s say it’s only 5 minutes, that is better than not working on it at all!

4. Journal & bible study every morning.

I started doing this a couple of months ago, but I want to put more of an effort on waking up at 5am every day to get this in. When I include this self-care ritual into my day every morning, I always feel 100x better. If you aren’t religious, I would highly recommend giving yourself time to journal, meditate, have a warm cup of coffee by yourself in silence, literally anything that makes you happy – just do it before you tackle the days tasks. It’s incredibly refreshing to start the day like this.

5. Post to Instagram 3x per week.

Really self-explanatory. I want to get back into bookstagram – without too much pressure.

»«

And there you have it, 5 bookish goals for 2023. One of the ways I am going to help myself accomplish these goals is to participate in reading challenges! Here are the 5 I’ve chosen to participate in:

---

READING CHALLENGES

---

I’ll be tracking all of my challenges on my Goodreads with occasional updates to the blog. So, if you want to see what I’m reading or how I’m doing on the challenges, make sure you follow me on Goodreads!

»«

AUDIOBOOK CHALLENGE

I’m a big audiobook listener now that my life has gotten busier, so I figured giving myself a bit of a challenge will make it that much more fun! This challenge is hosted by The Caffeinated Reviewer and That’s What I’m Talking About. It’s pretty simple, listen to audiobooks! That’s it! There are different levels (or amount of books you want to listen to) that you can aim for. I’m not going to pick a specific level to hit, I’m just going to go with the flow and see which one I reach by the end of the year! My listening speed is 2x so I’m hoping if I listen to them in all of my cleaning and cooking time, I’ll be able to get through all the unread currently on my phone (but some are like 45 hours long, yikes!)

Check out the signup post here!

---

FINISHING THE SERIES CHALLENGE

The Finishing the Series challenge is hosted by Celebrity Readers. It’s another straight forward one – finish those damn series! They can be any length, any format, the only requirement is that you’ve at least started the series before 2023! Which, I have plenty of! Mostly, I’d love to finish reading Harry Potter (yes, I’ve never finished it), Throne of Glass, ACOTAR, and then my husband and I are supposed to read LOTR together. Technically, the last one will be a partial re-read because I’ve already read the first two (he’s read all of them, multiple times), but I’m going to count it towards this challenge!

Check out the sign up post here!

---

OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE CHALLENGE

The Out of Your Comfort Zone challenge is hosted by Book Cheshire Cat. It’s all about reading books that aren’t your norm. It’s totally up to you what that means. For me, I’m going to go with both the genre, and the length. I tend to lean towards YA and rarely pick books beyond 400 pages. Literally, I will actively avoid reading long books, they’re the bane of my existence. More specifically, though, I want to read some historical non-fiction (I‘ve had some US history ones on my shelf for a while), self-help (there’s some that I’ve been eyeing for a while), adult fantasy (you know, not YA), and some of the books on my shelves that are long and I keep putting off (like Empire of the Vampire). Caro also has some levels and badges you can aim for/earn. Again, I’ll be just going with the flow and see what level I hit!

Check out the sign up post here!

---

LITTLE INKLINGS PLANNER CHALLENGES

I, yet again, purchased one of Little Inklings Designs planners. Last time, I totally failed at keeping up with it, but let’s give it another go. I’m using it for keeping track of reading, writing, blogging, and bookstagram. So, I already feel more focused with it. Anyways, within the planner there are some reading challenges that I’ll be trying to complete this year! I’m not really going to do them on purpose, I’ll just fill it in if the book I read fits. The challenges include:

⇒ A to Z Challenges, 2023 Fully Booked Reading Challenge, “On the Cover” Reading Challenge, “Reading the Rainbow” Reading Challenge, Genre Reading Challenge, “Read Through the Ages” Reading Challenge, “Around the World” Reading Challenge

---

RORY GILMORE READING CHALLENGE

This one is going to be a lifelong challenge. I’ve attempted to start it in the past but never actually read a book from the list. This time around, I printed out a master list from Jules Buono. She also runs a Rory Gilmore Book Club bookstagram that I’ll be following. She sets a theme for each month of the year so you can choose at least one book following that theme. For example, January is to read a short book on the list. Which is a great first option, to be honest – Rory Gilmore’s reading is super intimidating, to put it lightly.

---

PRODUCTS I’LL BE USING 

---

• My Favorite Daily Planner: The Passionate Penny Pincher – This isn’t bookish, but wanted to share because I use this every day to plan all of my non-bookish things (though some of it will make it in here depending on importance since I check this every day, multiple times a day).
• My Bookish Planner: Little Inklings Designs – I plan to use this one to keep track of my reading, writing, blog posts, and Instagram.
• My Bible Studies: The Daily Grace Co. – I use their app, listen to their podcast, and am following their bible in a year chronological plan for 2023. I also own several of their studies and find them super helpful for someone who knows almost nothing about Christianity.

What are some of your bookish goals for 2023? Are you participating in any challenges? Also, how the heck have all of you been?!

»«