2013 was an interesting year. I know, "interesting" is such a bland adjective to use but that is all I can say to describe it. There were ups and there were downs and I enjoyed the year as a whole but toward the end, I began to feel overwhelmed. I work everyday until 5 and then eat dinner, relax with my family and then try to get some stuff done before I become too tired and have to do it all over again the next day while trying to fit in seeing friends and family. The big thing that has been affected by all of this is my blog. I haven't been satisfied with my performance on my blog these past few months. When I write book reviews or normal blogs, I find that I am unhappy with them for the most part and feel like I could have done better but don't know what I could do to make it better. I am also haven't been blogging as much which has been putting a lot of pressure on me because now I have a ton of book reviews to write. I shouldn't be complaining. I love this blog and I don't want to stop working on it. But things need to change. The blogging experience isn't the same for me anymore - whether it be because of my performance in the past few months or because I have been getting bored with the same old thing, I just want a change.
I didn't make it a goal to read 50 books this year like I did in 2012 but I almost expected it of myself and therefore when the year was coming to a close, I panicked and grabbed a bunch of children's books to read so that I could make it to the 50 mark. I made it and the children's books I read were well worth reading. But that isn't how I want to complete a goal. I want it to be something fun, not a stressful chore. On New Year's Eve I began to think about what I could do to fix my blogging habits and then something occurred to me. I have been super stressed and reading a ton of books isn't helping. I would often stay up later and make myself read so that I could get through the book and make it to 50 by the end of the year. Putting off book reviews, which has become a staple for me, hasn't helped either. And so I thought I should switch things up. Rather than measure the quantity of books I am reading, in 2014 I am going to measure the quality.
While in 2012 I was concerned about how little I was reading the year previous, now in 2014 I am concerned that I am reading so many books so fast that I am not getting as much out of them and I'm not able to put well crafted thought into my book reviews. I don't want this streak to continue. So what changes will be made? Well, from now on my book reviews (starting with books I have read this year in 2014) will not longer contain keep calm posters. I know, I will miss them but what was once a quirky addition has now become a hassle. Another change is that I will be giving books a quality stamp. I will
still be rating the books out of 5 stars. If the book is quality, it
will get a quality stamp of approval. I can't say I read many books that I don't think hold some sort of quality but we will see what the new year brings. I'm trying to focus on the happy aspects of novels. When I say happy, I don't mean rainbows and pretty flowers or stuff like that. I mean the things that make the novel something worth while. I understand that no book is perfect and there will always be drawbacks but I want to explain why the book I read was worth my time and hopefully will be worth your time should you choose to read my review and think to yourself, "hmm, this seems like a good book! I am gonna read it!"
I'm not a believer in New Year's Resolutions...you will know that from my Wasted Wednesday post from last year. But I do believe in fresh starts and trying new things and I figured this is a good a time as ever to change my blog around! I can't wait! Happy New Year everyone!
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