Here we are at the end of the first quarter of the year, and what a quarter it was readingwise! Despite starting the year with a disappointing read, my reading slump had so receded that I wasted no time jumping into book after book. And I encountered some great reads too! I enjoyed so many of the stories I read that it was hard to choose just 3 for the Best Story category below.
Well, let’s see just how great my reading went this past quarter.
It’s a brand-new year and guess who’s feeling happy about it and refreshed and not slumpy at all (although, let me stop mentioning slumpiness so I don’t jinx myself).
Well, in addition to making “best of” lists and such, I enjoy making reading plans for the year, which is what this post is about. From my 2022 reading wrap up, I learned that making my reading goals manageable and not too ambitious is best. So I intend to repeat the goals I had last year, with a few tweaks thrown in.
Spend less.
Read more of my own books.
My plan is to read at least 10 of my own books before purchasing a new one (exceptions for series I’m reading and buddy-reads).
It seems that my reading and blogging slumps have passed, and I’m glad. It really isn’t a good feeling to lose interest in my hobbies, or to feel as if I’ve lost interest in them when what I am is just busy.
My interest in reading returned with a vigor in the fourth quarter of 2022, and I managed to read 5 novels and a novella! I’m so proud of myself. It helped that I was really interested in the majority of what I read.
Another quarter of the year has ended. I was hoping to read much more books this past quarter than I actually managed to complete, but such was not the case. My slumps have passed but finding time to read has been difficult — or rather, finding the motivation to read has been difficult. It’s interesting because the lack of motivation isn’t due to being in a slump, it’s due to lack of adequate down time where I feel relaxed enough to want to read. Instead, I find myself leaning more toward silly games on my phone. 😩 I intend to make some changes this coming quarter, so we’ll see if they’ll help me find time to read.
Having read just 4 books should mean I don’t have to do this whole wrap-up thing, but I’ll go through with it anyway because it comes in handy at the end of the year.
The second quarter of 2022 has come to a close, and although my reading and blogging aren’t back to the levels they were at before, I’m happy I’m still going at it. As usual, I’m busy, but now I’m adjusting to a new schedule, which has thrown off my already lacking and inconsistent reading and blogging.
I didn’t read as much in the second quarter despite taking part in two reading events — the Magical Readathon and Wyrd & Wonder. I completed the Magical Readathon by focusing on short, quick reads, but I didn’t do as well on Wyrd & Wonder as I’d have liked. However, I wasn’t too worried about my performance on these events since they were both “at your pace” type of events.
Well then, here’s how I did during the second quarter
The first quarter of this year began on a shaky start. The end of 2021 was a rough one for me and that permeated the first months of 2022. My reading and blogging were poor as I tried to juggle many things at once and overcome the worst reading slump I’ve ever experienced.
As my blogging slowly picked up, so did my reading. And since I completed only one book in January and none in February, I’m surprised I managed to read as much as I did in the first quarter of 2022. The prep for the Magical Readathon certainly helped.
Typically, I’d post this as soon as the new year starts, but I haven’t been in the mood to read or blog, so I delayed it until I was.
Considering how low my interest in reading and blogging was in December and the beginning of this year, I’d like to take things super easy this year regarding my reading. Most of my goals will be the same as previous years, but I intend to scale back on the amount I intend to read. I’ll also pass on continuing with certain goals, like the list of 8 books I really want to read but never get to every year. (Maybe I’ll get to them this year when I don’t have them listed as a goal.)
spend less
read more of my own books
take it easy
I’d like to try harder to spend less on books, so fingers crossed that I manage to do so this year (although I’ve already bought a couple books since the year started. Whoops!). Of course, I’d also like to read more of my own stuff in an attempt to weed out books I hate from my shelves. And, as I mentioned above, I’d like to take it easy this year with the goals.
The last quarter of 2021 was a rough one, so I didn’t get as much done as I’d like. It’s not even done yet, but I already know that I won’t complete another book before the end of the year. There’s just too much going on, so my reading speed has been much slower than usual. Below are the few things I managed to complete this quarter.
There were many ups and downs in this year’s third quarter, and I think my reading reflects that. I didn’t read as much as I hoped and what I did pick up tended to be short and quick, like a comic book or picture book. I also rushed to participate in the Magical Readathon and turned to such short reads to make it through.
I enjoy doing these posts at the end of each quarter. It makes me feel as if I’m making immense progress on my reading goals, even if I’m not, and I like being able to reflect on my progress in this way.
The second quarter of the year was good to me, reading-wise. I managed to get through 25 books, and that’s largely because of Wyrd & Wonder, a monthlong celebration in May of all things fantasy. I read much more than I expected for that event and the majority of them were good reads too.
Well, with those 25 books, I’ve managed to complete 80% of my reading goal this year, which is to read 50 things, so HOORAY for me! 😀
Anyway, here are the stuff I got through this quarter.
Zezee with Books 