2017 #BookishResolutions Challenge Update ~ March

I'm once again participating in the Bookish Resolutions Challenge. This challenge is hosted by Michelle @Because Reading and Laura @ Trips Down Imagination Road. For complete details and to sign up, click the graphic above or here. 

**MY GOALS FOR 2017**

I've been moderately successful with the challenge the past 2 years but I think I've come up with some tweaks so that I'll be even more so in 2017. Mostly I'm making my goals more specific and therefore more quantifiable. :)

• Blogging Goals
• Comment back THREE times a week
• Visit TEN blogs a day
• Interact with 3 blog Facebook pages a day
• Link up my challenge posts on the last day of each month (or last day of month quarterly for those updating quarterly)
• Keep track of my progress on my calendar
• Reading Goals
• NO BOOK BUYING without a gift card (that was gifted!)
• Read TWO Netgalley reads per month
• Read (at least) TWO books I already own per month
• Read ONE book from a series I'm behind in per month
• Listen to TWO review books per month
• Read books my kids *need* me to read
• Born to Run (Jax)
• Death with Interruptions (Jax)
• Everything is Illuminated (Sky)
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Jax)
• School of Good and Evil (Berk)
• The Book Thief (Sky)
• The Lightning Thief (Berk)
• Keep track of my progress on my calendar and in my book journal
• Personal Goals
• Exercise FIVE days a week
• Keep a food/exercise journal
• Spend an hour daily writing/editing
• Clean up my Goodreads Shelves!
• Spend ONE day a month on a different hobby - paper crafting or knitting
• Keep track of my progress with writing/editing and crafting on my calendar

***Update***

• Blogging Goals
  I've done okay with my blogging goals this month. I've kept up with commenting back and that makes me incredibly happy! I have *not* done well with visiting 10 blogs a day but y'all, March has been hard. I had Sky home and my mother-in-law visiting, James was home some, and this week Berk & Jax are home. They're all messing with my schedule. LOL But seriously, y'all know my family comes first so... I'm working at catching up though. If I haven't comment bombed you yet, your time is coming. You've been warned. ;)  I also failed at interacting on Facebook, obviously. I did keep up with linking reviews for challenges as well as keeping track of things in my planner. So I think that means I'm batting .500.

• Reading Goals
  Woot! THREE MONTHS and I haven't one-clicked a book! I did, of course, add a few *freebies* to my library but I've really been selective, only choosing those books and/or authors I've wanted to read for awhile. I also read (am reading) four more Netgalley reads this month, Dare You To by Katie McGarry, Cupcakes and Ink by Helena Hunting, Ten Reasons to Stay by Sabrina Jeffries, and I'm almost done with Mystery Man by Kristen Ashley. I read a book from a series I am behind in - My TBR read for March, Crash into You by Katie McGarry. I have to say I'm loving using series I'm behind in for my TBR picks. :) I managed to complete four audio review books and am working on a fifth, so I crushed this goal. (It's amazing how much listening you can do while running errands, cleaning, and cooking! ;) I finished Shifting Gears by Riley Hart, and Your Irresistible Love, Your Captivating Love, Your Forever Love, and I'm almost finished with Your Inescapable Love by Layla Hagen - yep, I'm binging on this series.) I started reading Born to Run from Jax's request list. Yay me! And I'm continuing to use my planner to keep track of these goals and it makes it easier to see what I have on tap. Again, overall I ROCKED March reading-wise.
• Personal Goals
  I'm continuing to do well with some of my personal goals. I've managed to exercise at least 5 days a week and I'm using my fitbit to keep track of food and exercise. That's enormously helpful since it's essentially done for me. I do add in my food during the day to keep track of calories. And I'm rather proud to say I've lost almost 12.4 pounds! I did spend some more time working at cleaning up my Goodreads shelves, but not enough. I did make some strides in writing/editing - setting a goal for myself has helped. Writing does take time away from blogging but if I want to finish my book, things have to be shifted. I also spent some time knitting this month - working on a project that's been getting the best of me but I think I've finally figured it out now. Woohoo!  

So that's my update. How are y'all doing with your challenges?

2015 Bookish Resolutions Challenge ~ June Update

Laura @Trips Down Imagination Lane and Michelle @Because Reading are the lovely hosts of this challenge. You can click the button above for all the details.

***

My 2015 Bookish Resolutions are:

• Improve my Netgalley Rating (started at 15.2%)
• Listen to one audio book per quarter.
• Write more discussion posts and/or create some fun features for my blog.

***

Unless you count listening to more audio books and continuing with my feature/discussion posts, I didn't make progress towards my resolutions this month. Buuut, I'm going to consider that progress! ;) 

COYER Scavenger Hunt Summer just started so hopefully I'll make some progress towards my Netgalley resolution in July. 

The audio book portion of my resolutions challenge is FINISHED! I started Ever After by Kim Harrison. It's one of my Reading Challenge books and as I'm typing this update (6-20) I'm ~3 hours short of finishing. I should have it done by the 30th. :) I also used some of my Audible credits I had built up to pick up some more listens and I'm excited to start on them. Who knew I'd end up rather enjoying audio?!? 

As for discussion posts/fun features, I continued posting my monthly Travel by the Book post as well as my Beyond the Books posts. And I've also continued my Brandee's Bookish Babble posts.

I'm still really happy with all I've accomplished so far this year. And I'll aspire to do more for July. How did y'all do in June?

Challenges Update ~ May ~ ##2015HW, #ShelfLove, Mythology Reading Challenge, LGBT Reading Challenge, 2015 New Release Reading Challenge

Omigoodness! Where have the first 5 months of 2015 gone? Considering I lost a week of reading because I was at RT and I was busy with end-of-year things with my kids (my middle schoolers are now officially *freshman*) I'm pretty pleased with my progress for May. Here's my update:

This challenge is hosted by Berls @Fantasy is More Fun and Michelle @Because Reading.

This month, I was supposed to read Opal and Raphael. I have finished Opal but I'm going to have to use a *pass* for Raphael. I'm about halfway done with it but I'm not going to finish in time. *frowns* I've done so well with this challenge and I will have Raphael finished tomorrow...alas, there just weren't enough hours in my days to get it done. (my older daughter's birthday is today - 31st - so it's been a busy day of celebrating...thus no reading) I guess that means I'll get an *extra credit* next month though!

 

This challenge is hosted by Chapter Break and Second Run Reviews.

I've shown my shelves some love. I've hit my physical, digital, and audio shelves! I've read 35 books so far! You can click here to check out the books and their reviews on Goodreads or click on the book images below. 

Did I really say I hoped to read more books than I added to my shelves in May?!? *hahahaha* What was I thinking? I went to RT and brought back 100X more books than I read in May. Oops! I did purchase 5 books at RT (yep, the rest were FREE) but I'd made an allowance for myself when I started this challenge...no books from a book convention count against me. So, I came out okay. ;)

As part of this challenge, I budgeted $10/month for books. In May, I spent $3.00. But I *ahem* found 2 B&N gift cards that I had finished off, so none of the books I purchased count against me. *ha* So far this year, I've *still* only spent ~$10. I've now *earned* myself 5 books and $4.00 towards books. I still have my $50 GC from my birthday and I won a $10 GC at RT! So I'm doing pretty good.

So for May, I earned:

4 Books = $2.00 Earned

As I've mentioned, I tweaked my *earning* methods to be $0.50 for every book I remove from my Already Owned shelf. My exercising (5 days a week) and writing goals (5000 words a week) remain the same.

This challenge is hosted by Niji Feels.

I didn't read any books that qualified for this challenge in April, but I plan to squeeze in a least ONE in May. :)

 

This challenge is being hosted by Lili Lost in a Book.

I challenged myself achieve God level or 6-10 books. So far, I've read:

Lexxie @Unconventional Book Views and Stormi @Books, Movies, Reviews! Oh My! are co-hosting this year-long challenge to read books being released in 2015. Originally, I challenged myself to reach New Release Newbie status - or 1-15 books. Since I met that goal, I decided to aim higher. ;) I set a new goal of New Release Pro - or 16-30 books. And I've now met that goal as well! Goodness! I really didn't think I'd read that many new releases this year. So, keeping in mind we're ~6 months into the year, I've set a new goal of New Release Enthusiast - or 45+ books. That's right - I'm setting my sights on the highest goal!

In May, I participated in the Clean Sweep ARC Challenge and I'm really glad I set my goal so low...since I didn't meet it. :(  But even a few cleaned off my shelves is an achievement, right?

***

I only read/listened to 12 books in May. See, that week at RT, along with end-of-year school activities, killed my reading time! ;) In June, I'll be on a couple of trips and I'm planning to get LOTS of reading in. I'll report back in a month. :)

How are y'all doing with your challenges?