2017 has been kind of a bust for me, in terms of reading. I've been so busy that I didn't quite even make my modest (for me) goal of 50 books read for the year! I know resolutions are kind of out of style, but I think I'm going to make one for 2018 anyway - stop overextending myself.
In 2017 attempted to do a lot of things - be a mother to my newborn baby girl and teenaged son, read at least 50 books and review them all on this blog, dye yarn and grow my Etsy shop, and just generally keep my house and family running along smoothly. I think I succeeded at the parenting and household stuff, but if I'm being totally honest, I kind of half-assed everything else. I didn't even manage to succeed in my goal of knitting a pair of socks every month of the year.
In 2018 I resolve to be more present and stop trying to be a superwoman. I resolve to let myself have downtime without feeling guilt over what I could be doing instead and I resolve to stop biting off so much more than I can chew.
So. Goals for my Etsy shop - stock at least once per month, not once per week. If I can handle more, great. If not... that's ok, too. My goal for now is to just maintain my current market presence.
Goals for this blog - a minimum of one review per month. Again, if I can handle more, awesome. If not, oh well. Note to readers: you may notice some changes in my writing style over the next few months. I'm trying to let myself ignore conventional wisdom about book reviews and adopt a more natural, conversational tone. Old habits die hard though - I'm more trained as a technical writer than an interesting one, so bear with me.
Goals for reading - a book a week. Yeah, that's more than I did in 2017, but dammit - keeping my mind engaged needs to remain a priority.
Goals for parenting - keep being available and present for my kids. Keep helping them develop into confident, self-sufficient human beings with empathy and consideration for others. And get my teenager to do his own damned laundry.
Goals for the house - keep it clean enough on a daily basis that I don't turn into a stress monster when someone is going to visit. Accept that dust bunnies exist and that they don't mean I'm a bad person. And maybe get the family room painted.
Goal for myself - go back to school and finally start finishing that bachelor's degree I started working towards in 1999. I wanted to have my degree by the time I turned 30 and spent that birthday mourning that goal. The new goal is to have that degree the year I turn 40. I resolve to stay determined to meet it.
Finally, this is supposed to be a blog about books, so I'm going to close this out by telling you that I started reading Kathy Reichs' newest book, Two Nights, last night and it's AWESOME. Seriously. I like the Temperence Brennan books, but this one is so much better (at least, the first part is - it could still go south). I hope Reichs hasn't given up on the Bones series, but I also really like this new character she's got going on - Sunny Night. The story is good, the writing is above average for Reichs and I'm having a hard time putting the book down to get anything else done. Definitely check this one out if you are a crime/suspense/thriller fan!
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