Happy 2014!

I feel like even-numbered years are better than odd-numbered years for me. Don't ask me why. I don't even know if I have any evidence from previous years to back that up. But I get excited when an even-numbered year comes around on January 1 because I just have this feeling that it's going to be a good one. Not that 2013 wasn't good - I got married, which was good! :) - but there were some other things in 2013 that could have been better, and I feel like 2014 will be better. I've made some resolutions, in case you're curious:

- Lose weight. Because this is kind of standard, and also because I do need to. Maybe 10-15 lbs. Good start.

- Blog more. I keep saying this. But I do want to blog more, and blog more regularly.

- Blog differently. Because just repeatedly saying "I want to blog more" clearly hasn't fixed anything, since I only put up 3 posts in December. December is a busy month, but that's still shameful. I've realized that feeling like I need to post reviews often starts to weigh on me, because I'm one of those people that kind of shut down under a long to-do list. With a flawed reasoning along the lines of, "omg I have so much to do, if I just did something instead of sitting here thinking about how much I have to do, part of it would go away... but there is too much to do and I don't know where to start so I'm just going to do nothing." So maybe I won't try to do so many reviews. Maybe I'll post more news stories, or more discovery posts where I share new books I've found. Because I get as much happiness out of finding new books and drooling over covers and making collections of books with similar features as I do actually reading them and reviewing them.

- Choose books differently. Because my NetGalley habits have gotten a little out of control. I started requesting every new book that popped up that I was vaguely interested in, because I wanted to keep up with all the new stuff coming out. I did the NetGalley Wellness Challenge because I fully intended to read and review all the books I request, and I wanted to shape up my profile to get approvals from some of those big publishers that haven't let me into their club yet. However, as much as I hate to say it, I don't just read. I have a full-time job, among other obligations that suck time away from reading. So I found that keeping up with all my requests was not easy. And, looking at my To Read list which is still a mile long, clearly I did not do a very good job. And some of those books on that list... I hate to admit this, but I'm not even that excited to read them. So I need to start choosing differently. From now on, I'm only requesting books that I'm freaking dying to read. If I don't dance in my chair when I see a book pop up on NetGalley, I'm not requesting it - I'll wait till I can buy it or get it from the library to read it. And on that note, I'm going to do more buying/librarying. Because there are a lot of books that are already out (and have been out for a while - like, in some cases, years) that I am freaking dying to read! And I feel like I can't read them because I need to get through all these other books (that I'm not necessarily freaking dying to read) first. Which is frustrating. And I feel like I'm missing out on good books. Which is really frustrating. So. Change of strategy.

I guess that about sums it up. So I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes ever and a wish that you have a happy and wonderful new year!


“May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art ― write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.”

     ― Neil Gaiman