I struggled to meet my goal of 48 books in 2020 and felt dissatisfied with a lot of what I read. For 2021, I decreased my goal, read a reasonable amount, and felt fine about the variety of what I read. I continued to enjoy audiobooks while working on jigsaw puzzles or doing chores, and that played a big part in getting me to my goal, as did my daily reading goal.
So let’s look back on 2021 and then forward to 2022.
Reading in 2021
Here are my goals and accomplishments:
1. Read 36 books:
In 2020, I set a goal of 48 books, barely met it, and felt rubbish about it. For 2021, I set a goal of only 36 books, read 53, and felt fine about it. Goodreads made a summary page of my reading challenge, and I added all of my books to my Instagram stories (view Highlight).
2. Decrease my TBR:
I began the year with 71 physical / 26 Kindle and ended with 64/22. That may be the most progress I’ve made in a single year. I didn’t buy many, and a lot of what I read came from the library.
3. Read 12 not-novels:
I read 26, up from 16 in 2020. That includes listening to 12 audiobooks (up from 5), and reading a couple of short story and essay collections.
4. Read 21 minutes per day
This went really well and made a drastic difference in my reading tally. I often read much more than 21 minutes, though some days were a struggle. But I only missed 2 days the entire year.
How Many Stars?
- 5 stars: 9 books
- 4 stars: 26 books
- 3 stars: 13 books
- 2 stars: 2 books
- 1 star: 3 books
- 0 stars: 0 books
- Abandoned: 1 book
- Not rated: 0 books
Pages Read:
- January – 1092
- February – 1317
- March – 1508
- April – 656
- May – 634
- June -1237
- July – 1977
- August – 1970
- September – 2336
- October – 1575
- November – 1354
- December – 1768
- Total – 17,424
17424 according to my math. Goodreads says 17455. Close enough. Either way, that’s up 3500+ pages over 2020.
Other Word-Related Activities:
- My goal was to fix my professional site and start looking for more contracts editing fiction. My reality was that I left my full-time position in May and went straight into a couple of corporate editing contracts. My professional website is in better shape (I have a portfolio!), though it’s not complete.
2022 Plans:
1. Read 36 books
I’m leaving this goal at 36. I understand the value of a stretch goal, but I work better when I can hit an attainable goal and then completely crush it.
2. Decrease my TBR
I set this goal every year. Some years, I make progress. It’s interesting to me that it stays relatively steady for various reasons. For a long time, I was buying books and reading them from my collection regularly. Lately, I’m buying fewer books (especially physical books) and borrowing more from the library. I’m starting with 64 unread physical books and 22 unread Kindle books.
3. Read 12 not-novels
No change to this goal—I want to continue averaging at least 1 book a month that isn’t a novel (nonfiction, poetry, essays, or fiction anthologies). This includes listening to audiobooks (which typically aren’t novels for me anyways), and I’d like to read more short stories/anthologies this year.
4. Read 22 minutes per day
This goal was new in 2021 and it worked out great, so I’m adapting it for 2022.
Other word-related goals
Finish my professional site refresh. Beef up my freelance contracts.
What are your 2022 reading goals?
I plan to continue tracking on Goodreads (or perhaps migrate to another app) and posting here monthly, though I may alter the format.
