Reading and Blogging Goals Check In & New Goals For 2021

At the beginning of the year, I set myself some blogging and reading goals that I wanted to achieve and I thought now would be the perfect time to reflect on my progress so far! Once again this year has been far from normal, but there’s a light at the end of the tunnel and I’m positive that things will start getting better soon! So far this year has been the best blogging year ever, not only have my views and engagement increased massively but I’m more confident and passionate about the content I love to create. I’ve become apart of such a loving and supportive community and I wouldn’t be where I am without any of you, so thank you. Anyway, here is my updated reading and blogging goals for the rest of 2021!

Current Goals

Goodreads Goal of 52 Books – At the beginning of the year I was smashing this goal, and although I’m still on track my reading has definitely taken a backseat. I think the problem is that I keep throwing myself into epic and intense fantasy worlds that are sometimes overwhelming so, and I cant believe I’m saying this, I think I need to take a break from fantasy books! I’ve just treated myself to a few romance books and I can’t wait to download some dating apps and wish for a romance of my own! If you want to follow along with my reading be sure to follow me on Goodreads @ Amy (A Fangirls Opinion).

Read Something Each Month that’s not ‘YA/NA Fantasy’ – I’ve tried but I just love fantasy so much! I am falling in love with romance books again, and I really want to star reading more memoirs/biographies so any recommendations would be wonderful!

Sort Out My TBR – Here’s the problem, I did clear out my TBR but like many other readers, I can’t resist buying new books and now we’re back at square one! One of my new goals for the second half of 2021, is to read all the unread physical books on my bookshelf before buying any more!

Post at Least Once a Week – I’ve had a few wobbles now and then but overall I’m really pleased that I’ve managed to stick to some sort of schedule! Having a dedicated and colourful spreadsheet has been a huge help, it keeps me organised and it helps me visualise my plans for the month, without it I don’t know where I’d be! I still need to find some sort of routine when it comes to balancing work, blogging and applying for jobs but for now I’m happy!

Invest in a Domain Name – Yes! It may sound silly but being able to type www.afangirlsopinion.com into my web browser will never fail to make me smile. These past 9 months have been some of the best months of my entire blogging journey, and I hope to bring that energy and creativity with me into the second half of 2021! Over the past months I’ve discovered my ‘blog identity’ and the style of posts that not only I enjoyed writing but others enjoyed reading and I once again feel proud of the content I’m sharing.

Start a Bookstagram? – This is something that’s been on my mind for a while now and I’m still undecided to whether I’m going to give it a go or not? I follow so many wonderful accounts that post stunning pictures and I’m eager to try it myself, so I might trial it for a month and see how things turn out.

Write at least 150 words a day for a year – A complete and utter FAIL! I don’t think I’ve written a single word this year, whoops! I’ve got a week off work soon and I’m thinking of treating myself to a little writing retreat and really focusing on getting my ideas out of my head and on to paper!

New Goals

Along with my current goals, here are some of things I want to achieve by 2022!

Reach 1000 followers – It’s crazy even setting this goal, and it still blows my mind that there are currently 900 people who follow this little blog! Over the past nine months my follower count has increased massively and I’d like to think that because I see blogging as a passion rather than a ‘job’ and that I’m enthusiastic and proud of the content I create. I love blogging so much, it the perfect platform for me to let my creative juices flow and interact with so many wonderful and like-mined people! So if you like books and bookish inspired posts then join in the fun and follow along!

Be More Active on Social Media – Earlier this year I revamped my social media accounts and joined the wonderfully chaotic community that is booktwt. I tend to overthink my tweets and end up not posting them, so I want to make it my mission to get involved a little more!

Participate in More Read-a-thons – I LOVE read-a-thons, but I just haven’t had enough time to fully participate in them! I love basing my reading around different prompts and challenging myself with ambitious TBR’s! I’m participating in the Merlin read-a-thon at the beginning of August and I don’t think I’ve ever been this excited for a read-a-thon! Merlin is one of my comfort shows, so when I found this read-a-thon on Twitter I knew it was meant to be!

Do More Blog Hopping – One of my favourite things to do in the evening (aside from reading) is blog hopping and catching up on all the blog posts I might have missed. I’ve discovered so many new and amazing blogs recently and met some lovely people along the way, and it’s definitely something I want to dedicate more time to.