My Winter Reading List + 2016 Book Goal

What a great reading year 2015 was! According to Goodreads, I read 82 books and 23,089 pages. The longest book I read was Winter at 824 pages, the shortest was Zombillenium: Gretchen at 48, and the most popular book I read was Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief. 

Of all the books I read, these eight were my favorite! As you can see, most are YA fantasy (my favorite genre), but I did branch out quite a bit last year into contemporary, literary fiction, graphic novels, and even some non-fiction. These aren't in any particular order, though my two absolute favorite novels of the year were Winter and Lois Lane: Fallout. 

♥ Winter

♥ Lois Lane: Fallout

♥ Ms. Marvel, Volume 1

♥ Station Eleven

♥ A Darker Shade of Magic

♥ A Court of Thorns and Roses

♥ A Little Something Different

♥ The Winner's Curse

As you read this, physical copies of these books sit on a shelf, unopened, heartbroken that I haven't read them yet. I can hear them weeping. Some are yelling at me. It's rather disturbing. So this year, one of my reading goals is to read all of the unread books. Let's be real, there's more than just these 12 sitting on my shelf, but these are the one I really, really want to get to. 

♥ The Archived
♥ The Girl at Midnight
♥ Everything Everything
♥ Just Ella
♥ Illuminae
♥ Alias Hook
♥ Of Metal and Wishes
♥ Six of Crows
♥ Black Widow: Forever Red
♥ Undressing Mr. Darcy
♥ Magonia
♥ The Invention of Hugo Cabret

But my main reading goal of the year: READ 60 BOOKS!  

What's your reading goal for the year?

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My 2016 Resolutions

Like everyone else in the world, I'm amazed that it's already 2016! Why does the fall season go by so much faster than the others? It's my favorite and it's the prettiest in my opinion, so of course that means it flies by in a blur. And now it's a whole new year! I feel like I need something to look forward to, so I'm hoping to plan a trip somewhere (Boston maybe?) this year. 

It seems my resolutions get shorter and shorter. In 2015, I had three resolutions and now this year I only have two. 

2015 Resolutions

Exercise more

Finish my novel

Make more friends & hang out with people more

2015 was a fantastic year! Because of NaNoWriMo, I wrote the first draft of a new novel. It wasn't the story I had in my when I wrote my resolutions, but I'm just happy I finally finished the first draft of something. Hooray! 

I exercised a good amount during the first half of the year, but the free membership to a gym via work expired in July. But I did get a Fitbit in October and I try to hit my 6k step goal every day. So progress! I like to think I reached out to people more because I got to meet some really wonderful people in 2015 (hey Kristin, Jess, Kristin, and Marissa!) and hung out with my besties a ton. 

2016 Resolutions

Finish the two novels I'm working on

A writer's work is never done! I want to edit the first draft of my NaNoWriMo novel, which means adding new scenes, introducing new characters, and including a subplot. I'm also currently writing a fairytale retelling, which I'm in love with and I really want to finish the first draft by March. Then onto editing that too. #writerslife

Find an exercise I enjoy

Every year I say I want to lose weight and I still do, but I think I've always gone about it the wrong way. I jump right back into jogging on the treadmill and lifting weights and expect to see results when I always find it boring. This year, I want to experiment more with exercise. I want to try new things and genuinely find an exercise I like. I'm really hoping to find a good kickboxing class near me! 

Do you create a word for the year? My 2016 word is CREATE! 

In 2016, I want to write write write as much as possible! 

Do you have any goals for 2016? Do you have a word for the year?

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My 2015 Resolutions

Last year, in my 2014 resolutions post I speculated that this year would go by slower than previous years because I was working, but that was not the case at all. Crazily enough, the months flew past in a blur, which I was not expecting. I have no doubt that 2015 will sweep by me just as quickly.  

2014 Resolutions
Get my first full-time job (part-time but still) ☑
Set a monthly budget (nope)
Finish my novel (nope, but I wrote an outline)
Wear heels more often ☑
Wear lipstick more often ☑
Take a trip somewhere (Yay Virginia!) ☑
Learn how to use Adobe Photoshop 12 ☑
Feel less pressured by my blog ☑

2014 was a great year overall and I accomplished a lot! One of the main goals was to find a real job and although it's not full-time there's room for it to be in the future, but I'm for now I'm comfortable where things are and I'm enjoying my job immensely. 

Still haven't finished my novel, but I wrote an outline for the last 1/3 and that's a big step because it's made me feel like I now know where the novel is going and where it's going to end. Now I just have to sit my ass down and type the words out. 

I've definitely felt less pressured by my blog the past year and it helped when I was getting used to a new routine and a new job, but now that 2014 is over I want to focus more time making sure my blog posts are the best they can be. 

2015 Resolutions

Exercise more 
I didn't want to put the classic "lose weight." That's too vague.
This seems like a more realistic goal.
I'm aiming to get my ass to the gym at least twice a week.

Finish my novel
I'm going to start bringing a notebook to work and write on my lunch break
in the downstairs kitchen since no one goes there. Little by little I WILL finish this book.

Make more friends & hang out with people more

Perhaps this is a weird goal, but I need more friends. It's not that I don't absolutely love the friends I have (guys I really do love you, promise), but I feel like I need to branch out a little bit. There are a few people I've met recently that I want to turn from acquaintances to friends and a few people at work that I would love to hang out with more. Plus I want to hang out with the friends I do have more. 

What are your 2015 goals?

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My 2014 Resolutions

Well, 2013 has now gone. I had a feeling at the beginning of the year that 2013 would sweep past in a flash. It always does when you don't want it to. For some reason, I think 2014 won't feel like it's rushing by, at least for me. It will be the first year I'll have to work five days a week once I find a full-time job (whereas before I worked only two or three days), so I'm thinking that's going to make the time go slower. 

Anyway, this time last year I made my 2013 resolutions, so let's see how I did. 

2013 Resolutions

Be braver / tougher ☑

Take risks ☑

Downsize ☑

Finish my novel

I'd say I did very well this year. Even though I only had four goals, they were tough ones. It's hard making yourself something you're not, but I wanted to be braver, speak up for myself more, do more things on my own, and try new things. This summer was spent exploring New York City, going new places, doing things on my own (since one friend moved and another was away), and I met new people here and there. I would say I'm a little braver, or at least a little less scared of the big bad world, but I still have much to learn. 

I got rid of a lot of clothing and I've actually been going through my closet almost every two months. I went through papers and drawers and got rid of random stuff. There are still places I need to go through, but we'll call this a win. 

Did I finish my novel? No. But over the year I wrote quite a bit and during NaNoWriMo, I wrote several chapters, even though I only wrote 13,000 words. I have more revisions I want to make to the beginning, and then I'm going to keep writing!

2014 Resolutions
Get my first full-time job
Set a monthly budget
Finish my novel
Wear heels more often
Wear lipstick more often
Take a trip somewhere
Learn how to use Adobe Photoshop 12
Feel less pressured by my blog

All of the goals above are pretty obvious ones, but I would like to clarify the last one. I LOVE blogging and I LOVE reading your comments and interacting with all of you, but at times I feel a lot of pressure to always come up with really great things and feel pressure to do everything I can for my sponsors. I love doing it, but sometimes it's nice to take a step back. For the last month, I've been staying off my computer all day Saturday and it feels great to take a small break each week. 

Overall, this year has to me more about moving forward and thinking ahead!

What are your 2014 goals?

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My 2013 Resolutions

I actually completed most of my 2012 resolutions! Although I did a better job on some more than others (drank lots of water and took fashion risks, but did an okay job at utilizing what I have already in my closet), I think 2012 was a pretty good year.

You can see which resolutions I finished and which I didn't...

2012 Resolutions

Life

Blog daily  ☑

Finish my novel

Hang out with friends more often  ☑

Read at least one novel a month ☑

Laugh more ☑

Smile more ☑

Dance more

Talk to people more ☑

Take more risks ☑
 

Money

Stop wasting money

Continue saving to repay loan ☑
 

Health

Drink more tea and water ☑

Eat healthier ☑

Exercise more ☑
 

Fashion

Take more fashion risks ☑

Wear dresses more often ☑

Wear heels more often ☑

Learn to use what I have in my closet ☑
 

Beauty

Exfoliate more often

Find the perfect red shade of lipstick ☑

Clean my make up brushes every week

Wear my hair down more often ☑

Book Goals

Read 25 books this year ☑

 

I only have a few resolutions this year, but for me they're pretty significant:

2013 Resolutions

Be braver / tougher

I'm a shy girl, so I need to stand up for myself more.

I need to learn to not back down so easily.

 

Take risks

Go places I've never gone before, do things on my own,

talk to people more, and in general try new things.

 

Downsize

I would like to keep only the things I use often / really, really love.

It will help for when I move to my own place (hopefully at the beginning of 2014).

 

Finish my novel

This thing needs to be written. Now.

Especially since it's my thesis. And I want it to be published one day.

 

What are your 2013 resolutions?
 

P.S. -- I'll be doing the January Photo A Day Challenge! I'm going to post my pictures on Instagram, so follow me if you want to see my pictures!

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2012 Resolutions

With the new year only a couple of days away, I figured I should post about my resolutions. I usually don't make resolutions, but this upcoming year I have many things I want to change about my life that I can hopefully adhere to.

Life

Blog daily

Finish my novel

Hang out with friends more often

Read at least one novel a month

Laugh more

Smile more

Dance more

Talk to people more

Take more risks

Money

Stop wasting money

Continue saving to repay loan

Health

Drink more tea and water

Eat healthier

Exercise more

Fashion

Take more fashion risks

Wear dresses more often

Wear heels more often

Learn to use what I have in my closet

Beauty

Exfoliate more often

Find the perfect red shade of lipstick

Clean my make up brushes every week

Wear my hair down more often

(Picture via LiciousCity)