Well it’s almost the end of the year and I’m sad to say that I won’t be able to reach my Goodreads goal.
Frankly the only reason I’m disappointed is because it means that I couldn’t succesfully juggle blogging, reading, and college at the same time. Which tells me that I really need to restructure my priorities (yet again).
If I’ve learned something from this, is the fact that I can’t read like I used to. For example, I used to read one book each day until I started college. Then I discovered Netflix, Amazon Prime, and other streaming services, which made me ignore reading for days at a time. Then came the fact that I just wasn’t feeling reading as much. I was in a continual “slump” that just couldn’t go away.
Thankfully I’ve gotten over this slump by rereading a favorite (I seriously recommend this! It works like a charm), so now I’m reading like crazy. Expect more reviews for next year! 🙂
Now I have a question for you:
How do you deal with not reaching a reading goal? Do you feel guilty? Disappointed? Mad?
I actually considered lowering my goal to whatever books I had already read, but decided on not doing it because I want to feel motivated for next year to surpass what I read this year (2014).
Did you reach your goal this year? How did you do it?
I’m honestly looking for some tips as to how I can read 200+ books per year (like most of my blogging friends do. Seriously do you do have time to do anything else?!).
So yes, let me know in the comments below.
P.S. OMG the year is almost over?! How did THAT happen?
Boricuan Bookworms 
I have two books left on my challenge which sounds like nothing but a lot when I can really be bothered to even read those two. Like you, I’ve been distracted by other things as well. Even though I feel guilty, I also know that nothing would of changed. For me, reading is another form of entertainment and I just chose other forms over reading this time around. 🙂
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Good point! Reading should be for fun, not for obligation 🙂
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Hey you’ve done pretty well, Marianne 🙂 108 is still very impressive!! I’ve read a mere 75 I think… Try your best, reduce the stress, forget about the rest! 😉
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Thanks, Rachel! Wonderful advice. I guess I have pretty high expectations for myself hahaha.
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I’ve read 74 books so far this year that I’ve read from cover to cover. My goal was 100, 25 more books than last year’s challenge. I felt like crap for a bit when I saw I was so behind and even considered lowering my goal as well xD But I’ve accepted that and strive to finish next year’s goal, though I don’t plan on reading as much as these two past years because I want to be focused on my last semester of high school, plus maintaining high grades once I start college >_< But I guess that the answer to all is balance. And read everywhere. I used to do this but as of lately I just play games in my phone, talk or text, and Netflix xD
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Haha Netflix is the end of the reading goal xD
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Ooh, I’m sorry you didn’t reach your Goodreads goal. I both like and hate the Goodreads goal. I think it puts extra pressure but it’s nice to have all the books you’ve read in a year stored in one place. This, year, I have read (so far) 314 books and my reading goal was of 300 (but started as a 100 – was in a slump too! But, hey, I’ve read A LOT of manga. I actually don’t read that much to be honest. Maybe 5 hours per day? or 7? And when there’s school something like 3 or 4. Okay, yeah, it IS much. 😛
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I really need to start shelving the manga I read. That’s easily like 50 more books per year. Thanks for the advice, Lola! Keep reading, haha.
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You could try setting your goal low, and then raising it as you get closer to reaching it. That’s what I usually do. (I usually end up raising my GR goal 10 or so times in the last couple months of the year!) I start with a base figure of what I really want to read–like this year, I wanted to read 500+ books–and, start my goal as a little over 1/2 of that, meaning I started with my goal at 300 this year. Also, read manga and graphic novels, like Lola Reviewer said in her comment. I read LOTS of MANGAS. And, if you want to read kids’ books or novellas, whenever you are in a slump, to keep your numbers rising at a steady pace on the GR Challlenge, no one will rib you about it. I like to read some children’s books occasionally. Just have fun with it all, and don’t worry about whether you meet your goal or not. Reading should be a hobby. It’s no longer fun, when it starts to feel like a chore.
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500? Wow that’s impressive! And I guess I should read some more Mangas… I never actually log them in when I DO read them, so I guess I have read a couple more books than I thought, haha. Thanks for the advice!
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I did reahc my goal, but I didn’t set my goal very high. I like keeping track of what I read in a year and that’s why I participate in the goodreads challenge, but I also like succeding in the challenge, so I set a goal I know I am going to reach. I did fail the challenge a few years back and it just feels a bit disapointing, especially when you only had to read a few more books.
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Yes, I feel that way too. “It was just a couple more books” but oh, well. Nothing I can do about it.
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This:
Which tells me that I really need to restructure my priorities (yet again)
and this:
the fact that I can’t read like I used to
and this:
I was in a continual “slump” that just couldn’t go away
All of that is true with me as well.
My goal had always been to read 100 books a year. For 2014, I finally accepted that that wasn’t going to happen so I lowered my goal to 85 books. I’ve read half of that, so I won’t reach my goal and it makes me a sad panda. Next year I’ll be decreasing my goal (again) to 50 books. I wish I were one of those readers who read 100-200 books a year but I don’t think that’ll happen any time soon.
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I guess you should just set it low and keep increasing it as you go along? That would definitely keep the pressure off!
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True!
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I just went and changed my GR goal to the number of books I’ve actually read. Yes, that is cheating sort of but GR has this way of not showing you the books you read if the challenge badge isn’t on the sidebar. So, you do what you gotta do.
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