Bookish Goals for 2024 #TopTenTuesday
This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic at That Artsy Reader Girl is Bookish Goals for 2024.
Read with more of a plan.
I have problems getting books read when I mean to because, for various reasons, other books get slipped in sooner. That will be helped with a better plan that includes putting books on hold well before I need them, if there’s a wait list.
Keep well ahead on my blog posts.
I’m a much happier blogger when most of my posts are written a week or more in advance of publication. Sunday Salon is the lone exception to the rule. Even with that post, though, it’s more fun if I at least get started on Friday or earlier.
Post more thematically.
I really enjoy brief themes throughout the year. Among other reasons, themes help with my first two goals — they require planning and invite scheduling posts ahead of time.
In 2023, I enjoyed writing posts themed to Pride Month, The Year Without A Summer, and Comfy Cozy Christmas (hosted by Erin at Cracker Crumb Life and Lisa at Boondock Ramblings.
This year, I’m already enjoying Jane Austen January, also hosted by Erin at Cracker Crumb Life and Lisa at Boondock Ramblings.
Do you know of any events that might help me explore themes in my posts in 2024? Bonus points if they can double as British Isles Friday posts.
Post more about anniversaries and events.
One way to explore theme is by linking posts to anniversaries or current events.
Last year, I celebrated these anniversaries:
- The 50th anniversary of Open University in the UK.
- The 141st anniversary of Oscar Wilde’s visit to St. Louis.
- The 100th anniversary of King Charle’s grandparents.
- The 50th anniversary of my family’s trip to Florida.
- The 100th anniversaries of the publications of Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers and The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie.
- The 200th anniversary of Mary Anning’s discovery of the plesiosaurus.
- The 200th anniversary of ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.
Are there any anniversaries or events that you’re looking forward to in 2024? I’m looking forward to the Olympics in Paris this year and to the 100th anniversary of the 1924 Olympics, the one that we learned about from Chariots of Fire.
Write more reviews of book club books.
This just feels like a bad habit. When I’ve talked about a book at a book club meeting, I no longer feel an immediate need to write about it in a blog post. But months or years later, I regret not having a record of what I thought about a book.
Since my book group mostly focuses on books about race in America, these are precisely the books that I’d like to promote so that they are read more widely. So, it’s time to improve my game in this regard.
Our reading year starts in October. I do have reviews for the first two books that we read this year, although I read and reviewed one long before the book group selected it. Let’s see if I can keep this up:
- Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe
- A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan’s Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them by Timothy Egan
Next up, The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb.
Research more fantasy travel inspired by books and shows.
I’m having so much fun exploring the settings and film locations this month for Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice. I’d enjoy more armchair travel like that.
Read fiction to support my novel-writing.
I’m working on a novel set in Washington D.C. in 1943. Other World War II novels that feature young women who work for the war effort are helpful. I also enjoy historical fiction novels on other topics, so that I can see how other authors handle the genre.
Right now, I’m looking for novels of any genre that feature ensemble casts, a team of people who eventually come together to save the day. Do you have any to recommend?
Read nonfiction to support my novel writing.
Here are a couple of the books that I’ve read for research:
- Code Girls by Liza Mundy
- Hitler’s Japanese Confidant by Carl Boyd
I also want to read more books about writing, like Save the Cat! by Blake Snyder to improve my skills.
Write a bad first draft of my novel.
Speaking of writing my novel, I would love for 2024 to be the year that I write a complete draft. I have a couple of drafts that I wrote during NaNoWriMo, but I think of those as zero drafts — exploration of plot and character. Now, I’m ready for something that is good enough to be the first draft that I edit.
Read more books that serve no purpose except to delight me.
This goal is counter to most of the previous goals, but I do want to read books for fun, too!
What are some of your bookish goals for 2024?