The Book's Buzz : goals

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all! The end of the year is approaching and with it, the time to set new goals and milestones for the new year. I have a ton of things I want to get to in 2016 but these are mostly book-related and some pertain to my lifestyle. I want to hear your goals for the new year so link up those New Year resolution posts! Happy holidays and enjoy your breaks!

New Bookshelves for my babies. It's almost normal for book-lovers to accumulate books on a weekly basis (daily for the lucky ones). At the moment, I have two bookshelves - one that is mounted on my wall and a pretty small bookcase in the corner of my room. I was originally planning on getting a camera with Christmas money, but there's no way I'm going to be able to save that much. It's just not possible. I've always wanted the Billy Bookcases from Ikea so I'm making it a resolution to get those before the year ends (preferably before the next month ends lol). In the event that I do get new bookshelves before the end of January, I'm going to post a bookshelf organization and tour on my Youtube channel.

Have my eyes set on these babies (IKEA Billy Bookcase)

Become a Regular Youtuber. Youtube is something I've been wanting to do ever since I started blogging. Even before that, I was so obsessed with the fact that there was this entire online community beyond what I knew. The Booktube community is so incredible and heartwarming. I promise when you upload your first video, it's such a bittersweet and beautiful feeling. At first you're super scared about how people might judge you, but you're also excited because you're doing something others are too afraid to do, which is show themselves to the world. I already have a channel but I'm not uploading videos until I get the new camera I've been wanting to get for a while. Youtube has taught me to be open about my opinions and has finally brought me out of my tiny shell. I've gained self-confidence and a light in myself I'd never seen before. I'm going to make a consistent schedule for myself and stick to it, for the sake of my fellow book-lovers! If you aren't already subscribed to my channel, go check it out for yourself and tell me what you think. I love feedback from fellow Youtubers and entertainers.

Read 120 books. When 2015 ends, I'll have finished 90 books. Keeping a Goodreads Reading challenge counter is a great way to make sure you finish a certain number of books in a year. It's more effective than just any old counter on the side of your screen. I get all giddy inside every time I finish a book on my list and post its review. It also tells you if you're behind or ahead in your challenge which will eliminate that part of you that wants to procrastinate. Setting a reasonable goal is also a must. You can always change the number as the year takes its toll, however, I don't think you'd feel too good if by the end of the year you didn't finish your challenge. If you'd like to check out my challenge status as of now, click here! You can see all the books that I've read and how many more books I need to read in order to prevail! When I'm looking at my friend's challenges, they always have super hard goals but they always accomplish them. Props to them for having so much free time to read. It's really unbelievable when you see someone has read 150 books in a year!

Build up my book club. Whenever I talk about the book club, I get super excited. Okay, let me calm down. A couple of weeks ago a couple of bookstagrammers and I came together and created a book club, The Readers of the Round Table. At the end of every month we're going to have a poll for the book pick of the next month. January's theme is all things fantasy and among our choices for books are Truthwitch by Susan Dennard, Passenger by Alexandra Bracken, Uprooted by Naomi Novak, and Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. Every month we'll also have trivia questions pertaining to the genre. These trivia threads give you the chance to show off how much you know about YA and beat other readers to get the prize. Some months there will be prizes and others won't (because we're broke book readers). I hope you decide to join us for our January read-along. I already voted. And you should to! To vote and join the Goodreads group, click here! I also recommend following us on Instagram (@readersoftheroundtable) to get the latest news and updates.

More book events. BEA and Bookcon 2016 is in Chicago, which leaves no hope of me going since I live in NY. Why do most book events have to be during school days? It's so torturing to see a bunch of photos on Instagram while I'm in school. I'm crossing my fingers this year for YALLfest and Geekycon-- two events that I'm willing to skip school for. There's a long list of authors I want to meet and bloggers I've been communicating with online for months that I want to meet in person. Ughhh the struggles of being a full-time student and book-lover. Usually with book events that aren't near my location, I have to rent a hotel and do the whole tourist attraction thing before I go to the event. I just wish most of the events were in hotels.

Post twice a week, at least. As some of you may have noticed, I haven't been blogging as frequent as I did during the summer or even last year. It's not that I've lost interest, that's definitely not the case. I get discouraged by so many things and sometimes I feel like no one's reading. But I still like talking and typing, even if it's to myself. I want to start posting two times a week and maybe even three, if I'm having a good day. I really love reading everyone's comments and blog hopping on my free time. I would say that I spend more time blog hopping than I do writing my posts.

Buy a new camera. When I started Youtube, I bought a really crappy camera at the time and told my parents it was a good one because it was cheap, and I was desperately in need of one. That was one of the dumbest decisions I've ever made. I should've have been more patient and waited to buy a better model. Now I'm saving up for a Canon Rebel T5i, which is like $700. Yes, it's a pretty far-fetched goal considering I don't have a 'real' job and my mom refuses to buy me a new one because she's afraid I'm making the same mistake as I did with the old camera. I've watched an abundant amount of reviews for this camera and people say it's good for entertainers. If you have something else in mind that would appease my entertaining needs, then I'm open to all options and suggestions!

Get a job. I don't have a job, and I really want one. I NEED ONE to keep up with my book-buying habits and (pay for the camera, xD). It's fun to rely on your parents for a while for cash but then it gets kind of annoying and, not to mention, it makes you feel like such an idiot because you can't make your own money. I'm not old enough to have an official job yet so I do volunteer somewhere at the moment that pays a fairly generous stipend at the end of the program. My goal this year is to get a job I want since I'm about to reach the age minimum.