I think we can all agree, 2020 was a weird, intense and emotional year for a lot of people. I had to take a step back from a lot of things in order to cope with the year and didn’t get a chance to read and write as much as I would have ideally liked. I primarily relied on Netflix, Disney+ and my PS4 for comfort, and was occupied with school and raising my fur-babies (there was a new addition to the FableHunter family). So as much as I wish I could reflect on the reads for 2020, there really isn’t much to say. I read about 14 books total, 9 of which were by Sarah J. Maas. So instead of examining 2020, I’m looking ahead to my goals for 2021.
In terms of reading, I decided to set a realistic goal of 3 books a month, totalling to 36 books for 2021. I like to keep track of my books through goodreads, so if you would like to follow along you can friend me on goodreads, or set a reading challenge goal for yourself!
I’ve already began chipping away at this goal and have started reading The Power by Naomi Alderman, as well as have several books on hold from the library that I can’t wait to get my hands on!
Though my “realistic” goal is 36 books this year, I hope I exceed it. I would love to get to 50 books or more, but I’m not going to set that as my goodreads goal as I want to keep things easy going after such a difficult year. Theres still a lot of uncertainty of how 2021 will go, but fingers crossed (and knocking on wood) 2021 will be a significant improvement. I also want to try reading a larger variety of books. I love YA/NA Fantasy novels and won’t give up reading those, but limiting myself to one genre might keep me from finding some fantastic reads. I haven’t decided yet exactly how I’ll change things up, but I am considering attempting to read books of various genres, from different countries, and by lesser known authors to increase the variety of what I’m reading and writing about.
I’m really looking forward to a couple of books this year. Here is a short list of just a few of my most highly anticipated releases for 2021.
Lore by Alexandra Bracken (1/5/2021)
Winterkeep by Kristin Cashore (1/19/2021)
The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna (2/9/2021)
Game Changer by Neal Shusterman (2/9/2021)
A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas (2/16/2021)
The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner (3/2/2021)
The Music of Bees by Eileen Garvin (4/27/2021)
I also have a goal to write about twice a blog post month, though again I hope I exceed this as well. Setting smaller more realistic goals will hopefully allow me to write what I want when I want without feeling pressured. I hate writing when I feel like I have to, especially when I’m already in college courses with heavy writing sections. I have a lot of really cool post ideas that I hope to work on and reveal over the course of the year, and want to take the time to do them right. This goal does not include posts from my friend Snipps, who writes the Sunday Comics section of Fable Hunter. If you haven’t had a chance to check out her posts, I would highly recommend it especially if you love manga and comics.
I also have some personal goals for writing as well. I will reveal more details as things progress, but I have decided to follow one of my lifelong goals of starting a novel. As it begins to take more of a shape, I will be writing updates that may include inspiration boards, playlists, and so much more.
I want to become more consistent and organized, as those are aspects I struggle with and I’m sure others struggle with as well. There are times when inspiration and energy are low, and being a blogger becomes a struggle. I want to let people know that its okay when this happens and even though I tried to make thoughtful and realistic goals, it is alright if goals are not met every month. Goals are the desired result, not the end all be all. Everyone is different and things happen that we never could have predicted.
I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and are looking forward to the new year.
Do you have any goals? Do you use Goodreads reading challenge? What books have you started the New Year with? Are there any future releases you’re looking forward to? Let me know in the comments below!
As always, good hunting!
Fable Hunter 
I lack organisation and consistency as well, so I will try to improve this as well. 🙂 I have a good reads reading challenge every year, it keeps me in check and doesn’t allow me to slack. 😀 One thing for sure, I need to cut down on blog tour participations… it adds more stress than I need. 😦
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I completely get that! It got so overwhelming I ignored my email for a while which was not ideal. Learning your stressors and reducing them can help a lot to keep things fun. What reading goal do you have this year?
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Well, I set myself 65 books a year. That comes after my calculations for posts I want to do. But majority of that number was children’s books this year. 🙈😊 Some of them take me a while to finish, even though they are for children. 🤭
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