…and that’s it, I suppose, for 2023! It’s the last day of the year and, looking back, I can’t help but be amazed at how far I’ve come. This time last year, I was very much just starting out. I was rushing to write blog posts, find challenges to give myself some structure, and figure out how to fit this new hobby into my schedule. I’d always been a reader, but I hadn’t built the practice of writing just yet. Every post felt like this Giant Essay – a fun task, but still a serious one. Every photo took an hour or more to stage and edit and frame. And every follower felt impossibly lucky – after all, who would want to read my thoughts on reading?

Here we are, one year later, and so much has changed. I’ve written 83,000 words over 82 posts. I’ve reviewed 20+ ARCs and 50+ books; writing about what I’ve read feels natural now. Over 10,000 people have visited this blog! (I know that’s not huge in Internet Numbers, but it feels absolutely monumental to me.) And this community has grown to over 3,000 readers.

So before we wrap up, I want to spend some time on what I’ve learned this year, and what I hope for the year to come.

Fewer books, more engagement

It should come as no surprise to anyone but me that I read fewer books this year than I did last year. It turns out that when you add writing to your post-reading task list, it slows you down a bit 😅 Last year, I was able to reading-binge myself to 150 books; this year, I’ll hit 130.

BUT. What a 130! Scrolling through my Goodreads, I was so pleased to that my reading diet has shifted in quality. I read fewer “potato chip” books (fast binge reads in long series with little “nutritional” value) this year. Instead, I read a consistent diet of medium-to-great books – I can’t remember a single unpleasant reading binge in 2023.

For me, this happened for two reasons. One is what everyone cites – knowing that I had blog posts to write forced me to be more careful with my reading selections. But I also think that having a blog schedule has built up my reading consistency. Instead of extended reading “dry spells” followed by binges of quick reads, I’ve been reading more regularly. And having that time and space and wherewithal has allowed me to read more of what I love, instead of just what I like.

Romanticizing reading

In the past, I’ve found it hard to treat my reading as a “real” pastime. When people ask me what I like to do, it’s felt hard to say “I like to read”. After all, everyone reads – right? – and I don’t want to come off as pretentious…

But I’ve found that the practice of writing about my reading has made it much easier to own this hobby. Not just because I can say things like, “I have a book blog,” though that certainly helps. Instead, it’s because the act of framing my thoughts on the reads I’m excited to share and taking pretty photos of the books I read and getting to share all that happiness has reminded me how lucky I am to read as much as I do.

The hobby of reading can be a solitary one, and it’s easy to forget that others appreciate the quieter things in life, too. But this year has helped me find and connect with the rest of y’all – the readers, the tea-drinkers, those who appreciate the early-morning sun in a cozy reading nook – and I am so grateful for that.

Challenges and constraints

This time last year, I was seriously worried about building the practice of blogging. Then I ran across reading challenges, aka a perfect way to add structure and force consistency on my posting. I quickly decided to take one three or four, and immediately started hoarding books in anticipation…

One year later, and the collection of challenges has served its purpose. I have built great blogging habits, and I’m able to write a post much more quickly now. I’ve always had a multitude of topics to post about, and never felt like I ran out of ideas. In fact, quite the reverse – many months, I didn’t feel like I had enough space for the more creative or unique reads I wanted to explore. A great example is – perhaps – a few too many cozy mystery challenges, which left me with less room to explore other genres I love like fantasy and sci-fi.

So while the challenges have served magnificently in Year One, I’ll be taking a slightly different approach in 2034. (More on that shortly!)

Making space

I’m not sure I’ve shared the origin story for this blog yet, but now seems as good a time as any. Last fall, my life felt a little bit out of control. I’d invested a ton of myself into work or social activities, without having much room for my own personal leisure. And when some of my closest mentors left my firm, some of those efforts felt almost pointless – like I’d focused too hard on endeavors beyond the point where they served me. I hadn’t even been able to read the books I was most excited about – and instead kept reading potato chips!

So I resolved to give myself room to read. I settled on blogging as a way to hold myself accountable, and decided I should be able to write at least one post a week with 5-6 hours of effort. Blogging would effectively serve as a canary in the coal mine of my work-social-life balance – if I couldn’t even make 5 hours a week work, something was probably out of whack.

To my delight, it has worked so extremely well. Carving out this space and time to read and write has helped me carve out more space across all areas of my life. In the last year, I’ve maintained this blog, started a weekly board game night, and maintained a cute balcony garden. I’ve read more deeply and engaged more with my friends (IRL and online). I’ve expanded my reading horizons, built my writing skills, and fallen in love with my little life in my cozy apartment. And it all started with a single blog post…

Commitments for 2024

So what does this all mean for 2024? I’ve got a few changes in store, which hopefully add up to a more diverse and engaging reading experience for all involved. Starting with…

A single, more intense challenge

While I’ve loved the structure that reading challenges have brought me this year, I frequently found them a bit too constricting. Committing to writing about 20-30 cozy mysteries, for example, made it hard to find space for the other genres I love. And in 2023 I constantly found myself choosing between writing about a book I loved and falling behind on a challenge vs. sticking to my schedule.

So this year, I’m going to try a compromise. I’m planning to take on a single, more intense challenge – but one with a lot more room to flex in the prompts. Specifically, I’ll be trying The 52 Book Club Challenge, which lists a series of intriguing and open-ended prompts from the year. I’m hoping it will allow me structure while letting me flex into new styles and genres – and forcing me even further outside my comfort zone. You can follow along on this reading adventure below:

A new series to devour

Still, it’s always great to have a fallback series. Since I started this blog, it’s been Miss Marple, but I’ve run out of books there (and it’s too soon for a re-read!) Luckily, I read my first P.D. James this year, and really enjoyed the Adam Dalgliesh stories in the collection. So these will be my “mystery comfort food” for the upcoming year – you can follow along with my reading progress below:

Space for musing

2023 has been the year of building my writing habits and skills. The easiest way to get there has been to center most posts on a single book, or to make reading lists. But I find myself wanting to make room for more extended thoughts – on the process of reading, on the authors I love, on the experience of the whole process. It’s just – scary to do so. And that probably means I should try.

So I’m hoping I can write at least one essay/ musing / ramble style piece every month. We will see how well it works – but you can follow my progress below:

Reading (and writing) retreats

As I mentioned earlier, writing this blog has allowed me to elevate reading in my life. I carve out more space and time for it now – and I would like to do that even more in 2024. It’s not that I need to spend more total hours reading (though that would be welcome!). Instead, I’d like to give it more dedicated time and space – room to tackle the hard reads, and to reflect more deeply on my reading.

So I’ll try to take some dedicated vacation time simply reading and writing – little blogging retreats. I’m really excited for this! You may not explicitly see this in the form of a tag, but I’m hoping it will reflect in the quality of my posts in 2024.

Thank you!

If you have made it this far – thank you, thank you, thank you! I could never have anticipated so many reading friends this year and I am so grateful for everyone who’s on this journey with me. You’ve made this year so much more interesting and fulfilling, and I can’t wait to see what 2024 brings us all.

Until next year – stay cozy, and stay curious!