Sunday, June 29, 2014

2014 Mid-Year Rewind

Well, my friends, June is just about wrapped up, and so is half of the year. I have no idea where six months have gone, and I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling that way.

I know I do a bookish look back at the end of the year, and I still plan to, but I thought it'd be interesting to do one now, too. So far in 2014, I've struggled almost constantly to squeeze in time for both reading and blogging. But going to UtopYA has really woken me up to the fact that there is never going to be a perfect time when I have absolutely nothing else to do and can just sit down and read or blog. I have to make time for those things, just like I make time to do laundry or go grocery shopping or clean (ugh, ugh, and ugh). So really the goal of this post is to take a hard look at the bookish stuff I set out to accomplish at the beginning of 2014 and still haven't so that I can do it and be able to proudly say in the year end recap that I did it.

I've only read 21 books so far this year, 3 of which were rereads. I've fallen behind on my Goodreads challenge goal of 50 books, and I've read 0 towards the Australian Women Writer's Challenge. Those are some pretty depressing stats. I also can't say that I've been utterly blown away by most of the books I've read in 2014, the notable exceptions being Ignite Me (Warner, Warner, Warner!), The Darkest Minds, and Never Fade. Divergent and Shadow and Bone both surprisingly didn't cut it for me.

But I'm ready to finish this year out strong. Since UtopYA, all I've wanted to do is read and write. It's finally dawned on me that of course there's always time for both. So what if I put off the cleaning for another weekend? Everyone constantly tells me that I obsess over it too much, anyway. There are too many awesome books that I want to read, and they're not going to get read if I keep brushing them aside for stuff that's not really urgent. And now that I've reexamined the priorities in my life, I've discovered that lots of things aren't in fact urgent, thus freeing up more time for reading—yay!

I hope to meet my Goodreads number for 2014 and even surpass it, but you know what? I've decided that the final tally isn't going to matter; what's going to count is being able to say that just reading those books made me happy. Being back in the reading groove has made me realize how long it's been since I read purely for fun. There are a bunch of amazing looking titles releasing later in the year (Blue Lily, Lily Blue, anyone?), and I'm confident they're going to contribute to an awesome second bookish half of 2014.

6 comments:

  1. Great change in perspective. You have to make time for the things you're passionate about once in a while so it won't seem like all you do is work and chores.

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    1. I definitely needed to take stock of what's really important in life because I was making everything priority 1 and just constantly overwhelming myself. I've tried before in the past to take things one day at a time and failed, but I've finally realized that I'm getting too old to not stop and enjoy the things that make me happy, like reading.

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  2. That's some good advice that I'll try to take to heart. I'm disappointed to see that you didn't like Shadow and Bone but I hope the rest of 2014 picks up for you. I haven't been reading all that much either and it's something I need to improve on as well. It's just making time for reading that is so hard.

    -P.E. The Sirenic Codex

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    1. It is really tough. I also used to feel guilty when I picked up a book instead of, say, doing stuff around the house, but repeatedly giving up reading time for something else was making me unhappy, too. So I've been working on finding a better balance that factors in plenty of reading time. :)

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  3. I'm loving this new perspective Lee! You're right, cleaning can totally wait while you read or blog. After all, "a clean house is a sign of a wasted life"...and we definitely don't say the same about time spent reading :D I'm glad UtopYA inspired you so much, I found BEA did the very same thing for me this year and I still haven't come off my reading/blogging kick - except for when I got my massive Heir of Fire hangover and couldn't read for days >.<

    Anyways, I'm also behind on my GR challange atm but hey, we still have half the year to catch up! WE CAN DO IT! And I promise to read Dream Thieves BEFORE Blue Lily, Lily Blue comes out LOL Best of luck with all your bookish goals for the last half of 2014 ♥

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    1. I had a terrible book hangover after Crown of Midnight, so I can only imagine what the Heir of Fire one is going to be like! All I could think about afterward was Chaol, Chaol, and Chaol. That reminds me: I need to get it together and get The Assassin's Blade read soon!

      You are going to LOVE The Dream Thieves!!! Finishing that also left me with a massive book hangover and extreme sadness over the fact that I was going to have to wait at least a year for another book. Ah, but the release date is fast approaching, and I plan to drop everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING, to read that baby!

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