It’s that time of year when we set goals.

I’m going to do my best to try and keep my goals simple and manageable. Unless you’ve been under a rock, you know that 2020 was an ongoing dumpster fire. And having said that, most of my goals went out the window.

Alright, let’s talk about my 2021 goals. There are a couple of new features, but for the most part, everything stays the same.

I’m going to start off by sharing a few goals I have for my Booktube Channel. I’ve never really talked about my channel here, but I figured I’ve been doing it long enough, and I’m slightly comfortable with the content I produce.

Booktube Channel Goals

If you didn’t know, I have a Booktube Channel, and it’s 1.5 years old now. I have a few goals I’d like to accomplish in 2021 as it relates to my channel.

I’d like to hit 1000 subscribers by March. I just need a mere 150 subscribers. If you haven’t checked out my channel, please do, and of course, subscribe if you like the content. And, yes, please recommend it to anyone you think might enjoy it.
I want to do more collabs on my channel with Booktubers, Book Bloggers, and Bookstagrammers. If you’re interested in doing that or you know of anyone that may be, let me know.
I’d like to delve into doing author interviews.
I started a project but wasn’t able to complete it, and that is reading other booktubers 5⭐️ & 1⭐️ books. How this works is that you recommend me one of your 5⭐️ or 1⭐️ reads, I read it, and then review it. And, regardless of what I think or how I feel, we agree to respect each other’s opinions. Again, if this is something that you’d be interested in, let me know.

Reading Goals

New / Returning

Zora Neale Hurston Reading Project. I’ve wanted to read more Hurston since I read Their Eyes Were Watching God and Jonah’s Gourd Vine, so I decided to turn it into a project. Click the link above to check out the Project, and feel to join in if you like. You can join the challenge by heading over to Storygraph.
Reading Classic Books Challenge is a challenge I created, and it has 12 challenge prompts. The cool thing about this challenge is, if you’re participating in The Classics Club 50 books in 5 years, you can do this challenge too. My plan is to pick books off my Classics Club list that apply to the prompts. So, if you’re interested, please sign up and join me.
I’m also a Judge for the Booktube Prize, which I’m super excited about. This will take a good chunk of time because if I’m selected for 1 or multiple rounds, I will have to read 6 books in two months.

Every year for the last few years, I scour the interwebs in search of new and exciting reading challenges. I’m always excited to discover new challenges, and this year was no different.

BUT . . .

This year I will NOT overextend myself in challenges. I’m participating in 5 reading challenges.

I am migrating from Goodreads to Storygraph, but you will still see some links to Goodreads. Having said that, I will be setting and keeping track of my yearly reading challenge/goals on Storygraph. I’m going to be super conservative and keep my goal at 24 books for the year, even though I think I’ll exceed it. 🤞

I am doing a slow read of The Count of Monte Cristo. What is that you might be wondering. It’s pretty simple, really. From January 3rd to March 26th, I’ll be reading The Count. I’ve attempted reading this 3 times over the last year and a half and failed each time. I was enjoying it, but I just didn’t have the time to dedicate to it. And, if you’re interested in reading this with me, click the link above or join the Storygraph group.

I don’t know if I want to count this a challenge because it’s a necessity. I am bringing into my library more books than I’m reading. Next year’s goal is to read books primarily from my owned TBR (physical or eReader). I have yet to do a complete count of my unread TBR, but let’s just say it’s in triple digits.

Well, you know how you think you read diversly and then discover you don’t read as much as you should or could have. That is what I discovered with my year-end stats. Don’t get me wrong, I did read diversely, but I could have done better. So, I will continue to be intentional with my diverse reads but put a little more effort into reading Indigenous, LatinX, and Asian authors and more queer and LGBT author s and books. Again I will participate in the Diversity Reading Challenge. I’m going to follow the 12 mini-challenge prompts.

JANUARY – diverse folktales/culture/mythology; or diverse retelling; or non-western setting
FEBRUARY – poc: Black/African American
MARCH – #ownvoices; or gender: female authors in male-dominated genres/non-fiction
APRIL – poc: Middle Eastern/South Asian
MAY – poc: East Asian/Southeast Asian/Pacific Islander
JUNE – LGBT+ pride summer: sexuality and gender identity
JULY – LGBT+ pride summer: sexuality and gender identity
AUGUST – mental health/addiction
SEPTEMBER – poc: hispanic/latinx
OCTOBER – physical/sensory/cognitive/intellectual/developmental disabilities
NOVEMBER – poc: Native American
DECEMBER – religious minorities

Other Challenges

ABC Book Challenge – I started this but didn’t finish. Actually, I think I may have only made it “E,” so I’m going to give it another go. The rules are simple – 1) mention 1 or 2 or more books that were memorable that begin with that week’s letter, and 2) a book or books that are still living on your ever-growing TBR.

Book Blog Discussion Challenge is a challenge I enjoyed, so I’ll be doing this again. I would love nothing more than to have the Gift of Gab (41+ posts for the year), but that’s not going to happen. Have to stay honest with myself. The reality is I’ll be closer to Creative Conversationalist, which is 11-20 posts for the year.