What's new, WR crew!

 

Like the rest of the world, I would like to acknowledge that we survived 2020; now here's to 2021! With that being said, I learned to keep it simple last year and I will take that approach in 2021. So there won't be too many changes this year (or I've already made the changes). Here's looking ahead.

What's new?

• I mentioned in my last blog I refreshed the blog's look. I did the same for Instagram. I think it will really help with a consistent experience no matter the platform. Hopefully, these small changes will make a difference. 🤞

• Also, I thought long and hard about my posting schedule. Based on new release dates I think changing posting to Wednesdays rather than Thursdays makes more sense. I want to think of it as a mid week/month check in. I will continue to post bi-monthly because it works with my schedule. I will continue to post regularly on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. 
• I've added a Self-Care Corner to the blog because I want to incorporate self-care throughout the year. I'm still thinking through what this idea could look like so TBD. For now the page it's there and hopefully I will build on it throughout the year. 
• Much like the look and feel of the blog, I seriously considered my rating system. I think it's important to standardized my rating (see image below). I want to clarify since posting this scale, that 3 star books are a good middle road and really B-/C. And, along with the rating system I will be including steam level for any romance, check out the link for steam level scale blog post.

• And the last change for the year (I think) is everyone knows I'm a notorious tabber/annotator. I tab and annotate just about ALL the time so I've been trying to figure out a way to post quotes other than GoodReads. Which got me to thinking, why not share these quotes once a month. I asked on Twitter what people thought and got the green light. I've added a Romance Advice Page to the blog. Here's where I will be post quotes from my reading. The page is the Monthly Romance Advice tab.

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Goals

• Like every year I plan to read 52 books for the year. There's 52 weekends in the year and that's when I get most of my reading done, so let's keep the same number. A stretch goal will be 150, which I reached last year but tbh reading this amount is really a stretch. 
• Get my TBR down to under 100 👀 more to come on my Tackle my TBR strategy. 
• I'm embarrassed to say that I need to make sure that my content is more accessible. But here we are and I plan to make this a priority.  
• I really enjoyed working on Spotlight September so I will continue this initiative. I want it to get bigger. And, in order to help me find creators/authors I've permanently added a page to the blog. If you would like me shout you out, check out the Spotlight Form link. 
• I'm going to try to read and finish one series this year. The likelihood the series I will finish/prioritize is The Lion and Mouse series by Kenya Wright. Let's be honest, I ate it up in 2020 and I only have one more book to get caught up. Winning!
• I'm going to try my hand at historical romance. Here's my tentative TBR. I say tentative because you know I suck at TBRs. Fingers crossed I get through these 3 books 😵

                     

• Last year, I started tracking my reading mid year so I want to do a better job of that from the beginning. While I'm going to use GoodReads, I'm also testing StoryGraph as a backup tracker. 
• After reviewing my numbers from 2020 I want to increase my Black feminist literature percentage from 6% to 10%.
• I also want to be able to share a better break down across the board (spending, diversity, etc.) which means I've changed the format of my monthly wrapups. Hopefully in addition to using StoryGraph and updating my monthly wrapup my reporting will be easier.

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Bujo Templates

What's a new year without planning or bullet journal templates? I shared a few vision board ideas on Twitter in December, check out the thread here for those templates. But, I also made a few printable bookish templates. If you would like to access the documents click here. 

***I've included an ARC tracker if you request ARCs too! 

If you're like me any opportunity to keep organized is super helpful! Feel free to download at your leisure.

Happy Reading!