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Top Ten Tuesday is a feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s theme is: Top Ten Resolutions We Have For 2015 (can be bookish, personal resolutions, “I resolve to finally read these 10 books, series I resolve to finish in 2015, etc.)

Ah, resolution time. The time of year when gyms flourish, self-help books fly off the shelves, and planners are purchased in droves. Let’s get something straight: Every year I have several of the same resolutions/goals. I am sure you know them well. Get in shapeFigure out my life plan, and try not to be a complete miserable mess this year, too! all top my personal list.

But this is bookish/blog focused, because you have heard the personal ones before, from like, all the people. Hell, you very well may have heard most of these, at least from all the book people. We’ll give it a shot anyway, okay?

Read a few books on my shelves- or at least the ones I pre ordered

Ah, I do love book hoarding. But you know what would be even more fun? Actually reading a few of the books I buy! If I had to guess, I’d say I read less than 30 books that I bought myself- even though I have literal shelves of them! Between review books and BEA books, Secret Sister books, and even some giveaway wins, those poor, neglected pre-orders haunt me.

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Not to request a shit ton of ARCs before BEA

Why would someone do this? Why? I told myself not to last year, and then I went ahead and did it anyway, because I was afraid that by not requesting them, I was jinxing their presence at BEA. These are not the actions of a sane person.
Speaking of BEA, maybe not break my suitcase this year

Good news: The airline will not let me drag around a 150 lb bag. Bad news: The airline will not let me drag around a 150 lb bag.

Also, RIP adorable green flower suitcase I bought in Hawaii and can never have back.
Shattering Stigmas. Bigger and better.

I loved that I actually was able to get it off the ground last year! And that my co-hosts were so amazingly wonderful, and the authors and bloggers who shared their stories and their time were so amazing too. But I am hoping to come up with something new and fun this year- don’t know what yet- to add to the mix. And definitely add more interactive events- you guys blew me away with your willingness to jump into the discussion!
Come up with something new. This is incredibly vague, but if I knew what to do I wouldn’t need the resolution.

I just want to do something… different. I didn’t really introduce much in the way of new big stuff last year, and I would love to do something big this year.

Write more stuff/Finish Old Stuff

Self-explanatory. But I don’t want winning one NaNo to be as far as I go. Nopety nope.

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Deal with my shelf “situation”

The situation is basically that I have run out of room on my shelves. I also have run out of space to put more shelves. See the complications? Hence a giveaway, and giving books to friends, and I don’t even know what else I will do. Donate some, maybe. Sell some? I have no idea yet.
Do more random stuff

What does this even mean? Well. Kind of like, maybe I will say to you on Twitter “Happy Birthday! ? Hope you have a great day ?” See how that doesn’t make sense? But it makes me entertained. Also, I want to respond more to spambots. Because why not? I once had a long conversation with a Mars bar- it turned out to be an actual human behind the account, and he seemed quite nice!

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Meet ALL the people

Amber can’t hide her face anymore. We will know whether she is or is not the girl from the Free to Fall cover. And then I can meet other people too, after we know if we’ve been Catfished. I want to meet every person I can at BEA, and then I would love to meet some of the more local bloggers too- hopefully at Nori’s event, if that happens this year!
Something Hunger Games

Also vague, right? Well see… there is nothing new happening with THG for the first time in like, I don’t know, 7 years or so? That is depressing, as you might assume. So I hope to do something, or tell you something about THG because I feel like that is at least half my usefulness around here. Also, if you hadn’t heard, I love that series.

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No, seriously,  calm down.  The world will not stop turning if I miss a post or forget a few comments. 

I said this last year, and failed. I said it again this year, and am already failing three days into the year. I don’t want to get so wrapped up in all the things I “have” to do that I forget that it is supposed to be fun. I also don’t want to be a zombie. But, I also want to keep everything going smoothly, and keep visiting blogs, and all that other jazz. We should probably just go ahead and mark this one as a failure from the start.

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What are some of your resolutions and/or goals for the new year?

Posted January 5, 2016 by Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight in Top Ten Tuesday / 31 Comments

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31 responses to “Resolutions: Guarantee Not Included

  1. I totally agree on the last one. Not be a Zombie, yes! Thank you! Ironically, my last resolution was about the same thing as yours haha More hunger games, you say? Shannon, you should check your email 😉 (I’m serious. Check it.)
    One thing I really hope to do this year is discussion posts. I suck at those and can never really get my point across very well so I need to practice and get better at it and do more of them 😀

    • Ooooh I did! And I responded back so quickly that they probably think I am a little bit of a weirdo 😉 But really- did they not know already? 😀 And you can totally do discussion posts! I have faith! I know you are better at them than you think!

  2. I agree with so many of these! I also want to write more, because I have a story living in my head but getting it down on paper is incredibly hard. I’m not going to BEA, but I still want to show more restraint when requesting and downloading ARCs, for I am ALWAYS BEHIND. And the whole wanting to post new things on the blog thing? YES.

  3. I’m definitely a book hoarder. I need to get around to reading more on my shelves. The trouble is, I keep on adding to it. ARGH!!! Bookworm struggles! 😉 Good luck with your resolutions.

  4. I love your resolutions, Shannon! I feel your struggle with ARCs, need to get that in order and stop requesting ALL the books! and spontaneous chats with spambots sound hilarious! Hope you get lots of these done this year. I’m looking forward to more Shattering Stigma and whatever you are going to do about The Hunger Games 😀

  5. Yup. I don’t nearly have as many physical books as most people but I still would like to actually read some of them. And the last one. I focus on visiting all blogs that visit mine. And I am good at that. But replying to comments left. UGH. So hard to keep up with it all. I need to not stress. Good luck with these!!!

  6. Wohoo, Shannon! YOU CAN DO IT with all these resolutions. I’m focusing a lot on your number 1, read more of the books that I’ve bought in the past (and I have bazillion of them). I’m going to be requesting less ARCs in general myself and I’m happy with that decision because I can’t deal with all the pressure anymore.
    Good luck, Shannon! 🙂

  7. We have a few of the same resolutions, we will cheer each other on throughout this year 🙂 I think I’m just going to stop requesting ARCs. I have too many to read right now and just having a hard time keeping up. I want to enjoy the books on my shelve more! They need some lovin’.

  8. Great goals Shannon! from one hoarder to another.. I hear you so many books! 🙂 you are going to BEA again WHOHOOO! I loved your Shattering Stigmas so looking forward to it! 🙂 writing… writing.. yup! I need to get that done too 🙂

  9. Totally with you on calming down. Oh yeah! {raises the roof} (Does anyone do that anymore? Is it still a thing? Apparently it is because I just did it.) I find it very interesting (truly – not being facetious here) that most of my stress is self-induced. Not from outside sources, but from ME. How absurd is this? So let’s calm down, shall we? I must say, I love the vagueness of several of your resolutions. That leaves it wide open for interpretation. Genius! 🙂

  10. If I could I would definitely hop on a flight for BEA just so I could meet all you guys. Maybe one day I’ll get there but this year I will wave to you all from my computer screen and hope you don’t break your suitcase haha. I am with you on the book shelf situation. To start with I actually don’t have a book shelf so this year I am going to try and organize my room and make room for some pretty shelves, sort through my books and tackle my never ending to be read pile. I hope you have a

  11. I love the title of this post, set me off reading it with a smile. Good luck with the bookshelf space. That is never easy to figure out. Although people always love good giveaways. I hope BEA is great, with lots of new books and no broken suitcases 🙂 One day I hope to go if I can ever find someone to go with or meet up with me there to save some of the hotel costs (plus friendly company). Although I need the financial means and time off to go in the first place, but one year I will go!

  12. I have so many unread books on my shelf, it’s not even funny. So I’m onboard with you there. 🙂 Shattering Stigmas was great, so impressed with what you guys did there last year.

    “conversation with a Mars bar.” LOL- too funny.

    Looking forward to whatever you come up with Hunger games- wise. Kinda strange the movies are all over- although I just watched Mockingjay Part 1 the other day, haven’t seen 2 yet.

  13. “Not to request a shit ton of ARCs before BEA” DO IT FOR THE PEOPLE, SHANNON. hahaha. and maybe possibly snag me an arc of the may queen murders? thanx. lol jkjkjk 😉

    I haven’t preordered a book in years! Last one was Stephanie Perkin’s LOLA. I kinda miss it, but if I started now, I’ll end up preordering everything I mildly like.

    WRITE ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING. MEET ALL THE PEOPLE. (Are those emojis in your post, btw? How cool! The haircut one kinda make me laugh.) Good luck with the fab resolutions! *salutes*

  14. It’s going to be great, we’re ACTUALLY GOING TO SEE AMBER, MAYBE. Unless she ditches us, because she’s really a 50 year old man. AND PLEASE STOP WORRYING ABOUT COMMENTING. IN FACT, DON’T COMMENT. JUST DON’T. ok thanks. Wait, just comment on my blog. I think that is a great intervention plan.

    RIP suitcase

  15. I love the last one! I don’t want to feel like a zombie either, and there are times I catch myself going down that crazy path. I also want to work on my writing this year…which means I have to go digging and pull it all out. I am excited about this vague new things! 🙂 Happy 2016, Shannon!

  16. Your last resolution is pretty much the same as mine this year – feel less obligated to other people and other things I “Have to do” and stick with what I want to do. I hope this will reduce the stress and make me feel more balanced and happy with myself. I hope you have a an awesome 2016 with these goals – they sound fun!

  17. I so agree about not reading books on your shelf. Back when I had physical books (okay I still have some, but not that many) I would buy this massive stack of books. Read 1 or 2, then get distracted by a new book that came out, and run and buy another stack and so on and so forth. It makes you feel like more of a book collector than a book reader.

    Also, I knew nothing at all/had never heard of BEA before, then I looked it up and mentally ran around in circles of delight. So thank you for that!

    Good luck with your goals! Especially that “do something new one”, that’s a goal that’s often left me near to banging my head against the wall. It’s hard to come up with new things but I’m sure you’ll do it!

  18. THESE are the goals of a champion!!! You’ve got this, girlie!! I’m totally 100% jealous that you’re going to BEA… but at the same time TOTALLY happy for you!!! <3 And YES, having convos with robots is like the new big thing! Awesome goals, lovely lady! Good luck! 😀

  19. I’m really enjoying that so many people are keeping it simpler for blog stuff this year. In terms of your shelves, at the risk of sounding like a self-help guru, I read Marie Kondo’s The Life Changing Art of Tidying Up and found it really helpful in paring things down. My closet has never looked better! It’s more of an ongoing thing with books because I do have some that I just have to try to read before I get rid of them (and don’t even get me started on my jewelry or knick knack situation). I’m a person who is always reducing and I feel better having less stuff (even though I still have a lot by most standards) so your mileage may very but I think the mindset she points out for looking at what to keep and what brings joy is really brilliant.

  20. I DEFINITELY want to reread THG this year^^ I only read them ONCE and I used to be a HUGE rereader so I need to read them again. Oh and I also want to read what I already own and get my bookshelf situation under control LOL! Good luck with all of these and happy 2016!! x

  21. Your goals are hilarious, I love them! I have officially run out of shelf space so I need to figure something out too.
    And I am determined to read old books and re-read favorites this year and to keep blogging fun and stress free 🙂

  22. I also love book hoarding and already have some pre-ordered for this year. I sure hope to get a few of them read too ;). I am excited you want to do Shattering Stigma’s again this year and I am looking forward to see what you come up with.

    I am also running out of shelf space slow, but I think I can fit in another bookcase. I just can’t afford another bookcase at the moment. So I started stacking books in front of others and I feel so bad about it.

    I always feel bad when I get behind on replying to comment. I really could use to chill out a bit more about that, but I can’t. Good luck with all your goals!

  23. Your goals are INSANELY WONDERFUL. And honestly? I had the same problem about “failling” on the blog…kinda still do? But one thing that actually helped me was just…TO FAIL. I just failed on answering comments and posting regularly and being my regular-on-schedule-self for a week and while I felt rotten, it somehow took the pressure off the failing because I did it? And I didn’t die? hehehh. But zomg, I don’t even know if that’s good advice to give. PROBS IGNORE ME, SHANNON. I’M A HOPELESS BEAN.
    Oh oh and I really need to figure out my shelf space. Usually at the beginning of the year I have A PLAN and then I fill the shelf or whatever through the year. This year I’m starting with no space and idek what to do. *collapses sobbing* I’d pile books on the floor but my dog would eat them. I CANNOT HAVE THAT.
    I also want to do something new this year too! NO CLUE WHAT. XD But it’s gonna be something…

  24. Oh my gosh, this means I’ll have something to look forward to re: The Hunger Games again! YES! On behalf of both my co-blogger and myself – YES. And if you need help with whatever you choose, feel free to holler.

    Also, truly, give yourself a break. It’s the best 2016 resolution a blogger can make. For our own sanity’s sake. 🙂

  25. I would LOVE to meet some of the bloggers I’ve met over the past one and a half years! Unfortunately, no one really lives close to me, so that won’t be possible. Maybe some day! I’m all for interactive and random stuff. And I’ll probably have to do something about my shelf situation too. I don’t have quite as many books, but I AM running out of shelfspace even though I started reading ebooks over the last few months. 2016 SHALL BE THE YEAR OF NEW SHELVES AND HAPPINESS. In that order, obviously, because priorities.

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