It’s time for our belated New Goals post!
To be fair, I did warn you I was planning to post this one in late January this time XD Due to the unusual and difficult nature of the last half of 2023, I wanted to take a little extra time this year to pray over 2024 and seek guidance and wisdom in my direction for the year.
Do I feel like I’ve found that? Not really no. But I’m choosing to continue to pray and seek. This very much feels like a day-by-day season, but I believe my God is good and He is trustworthy. So I will go where He leads, day by day.
I’m slowing down and planning to keep this year a little lighter at the moment. In the meantime, I want to share what I can.
I hope the beginning of your 2024 has been a blessing to you and those you love. And I’d love to hear how you’re goal planning has gone so far. 🙂
If you missed the 2023 Wrap-Up post, it’s almost like a Part I, so go check it out! They are independent of each other, but they also go hand in hand.
You guys know how much I value intentionality and living on purpose for a purpose. Even in this “slower” time, I hope to assess what and how I’ve done, what needs to be adjusted moving forward, and as far as God allows, setting new goals to pursue.
So, with that, here is what I’m looking at for 2024 so far.
Reading Goals
Though this feels like the easiest area to set goals in, I still find myself unsure of how realistic they are this year. I’m in a season of transition, and my new job is reading-heavy. But I still intend to make time for personal reading because it’s very important to me.
My Goodreads Reading Challenge goal this year is 65 books.
Last year, my goal was 60–which I bumped up to 75 mid-year–and I exceeded that with 93 books for the year. This year, I hope to read many great books, but I want to set a cautious initial goal until things settle down a little in other areas.
Of the 65 books, as per usual, I want to reading 12 non-fiction books (at least 3 of which should be devotionals). I’d set a goal to finish the Keeper of the Lost Cities books last year and chose to adjust it to reread the first six books and then finish the series. So, this year, I’d like to continue rereading, and hopefully, get through the four books I haven’t read yet, too. Additionally, I started rereading the Disney Fairies series last year and only got halfway through, so I’d like to finish those up too. A bonus goal would be to finish one of the writing books I’ve started (most likely candidate is Writing Magic: Writing Stories that Fly by Gail Carson Levine).
As we did last year, Cassie and I are hosting a 2024 Reading Challenge. Last year was a Books Owned themed challenge in which we only read books we owned (with a system to earn “new” books throughout the year). This year, our focus is on the TBR list (again, with a system to earn “impulse” reads). I’m super excited to use this as an excuse to plow through some of the TBRs that have been collecting dust on my proverbial shelves.
A few books I hope to prioritize for this challenge include:
- Calor by J. J. Fisher
- Of Sea and Smoke by Gillian Bronte Adams
- Oathbound by Victoria McCombs
- The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien
- Son by Lois Lowry
- Murtagh by Christopher Paolini
among others 😉
A few rereads I hope to prioritize this year include:
- Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
- The Selection series by Kiera Cass
- The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
- some Newberry books from my childhood
And that may be a tall order for the year, but it’s a place to start.
If you’re at all interested in joining our TBR Challenge (we have prizes!), shoot me an email and I’d be happy to send more details.
What about you guys? What reading reading goals are you setting for 2024?
GraceBought Goals
GraceBought turns six this month! Wow. I honestly can’t believe this tiny experiment one night in my grandparents kitchen turned into a way to connect with all of you. <3 As always, thank you for hanging around in my little corner of the world.
My plan is to continue the weekly book reviews and monthly WWWednesdays. Those are a fun part of my month and a great way to recap what I’ve been reading. I love hearing what you guys are reading, too!
Writing Goals
Last year was full of courses, conferences, pitching, and edits.
This year, I’ll be cutting back on writing a lot. I’m not letting go of writing entirely, but I am taking the pressure off, seeking God’s direction, and healing from some deep hurt in this area.
More practically, I’m participating in a mentorship program with the absolutely lovely Sara Ella, going through the Self-Edit Your Novel course online from Nadine Brandes, and slowly chipping away at applying edits to a novel using Nadine’s course. I’m not really planning much more than that. If I manage to revise and polish this beast of a manuscript up for line edits by the end of the year, I’ll be happy with that.
Unlike last year, I will not be traveling nearly as heavily, unfortunately. I love travel (though it an be exhausting), but this needs to be a season of dialing back, resting, and cultivating. I do still intend to travel some to see family when I’m able and there is one writing conference I have prayerfully decided to attend–without the pressure of mentor appointments, critiques, or pitching.
It was a blessing to have these appointments in previous years and one day I definitely hope to add them back onto my plate, but for now, I intend for this conference to primarily be a way to support my mentors and friends.
Personal Goals
Oddly, my life is as much as ever before mostly reading, writing, work, and church–with some adjustments on intensity in those areas. I’ve been pouring a lot of energy into writing and work over the last few years, and now comes the time to fallow, focus on healthy routines and boundaries, and rest intentionally.
By God’s grace, I started a new job this month, so I’m still learning and adjusting to that. I’m still figuring out the transition and how to create a new routine. And amidst a resurgence of chronic insomnia and fatigue, I’m doing my best to prioritize consistent physical sleep (and establishing routines to help with the quality of that sleep).
As for spiritual goals and service for the year, I still plan to serve my church music ministry by playing in the orchestra and plug into a weekly Bible study community to grow in the Word and through fellowship.
I’ve also been doing some deeper cleaning and pruning around my apartment. I don’t have any particular goals set for the year, but I do think I’d like to focus on some larger cleaning projects.
~*~
And that’s all I have for this go round. 🙂
What are some of your 2024 goals? Share below and let me know!
Here’s to another year with GraceBought! It is my sincerest hope that you can find something here that makes you smile and encourages or helps you, whether through a post of my crazy, random thoughts, a book review, or something else! Thanks so much for walking with me through this and may your 2024 be the best year yet!
Love always,
Coralie