It’s January, so that means New Goals post!
Much like last year, I’m doing my best to cover this new year in prayer, to seek guidance on God’s direction and take the time to actually be still and listen – which can be hard! But it is good.
I’m still trying to be intentional about what I say yes to and what goes on my plate so as not to overextend myself, so in some ways, it feels like this may be another slower year, but I think slower is really, really good sometimes.
May your 2025 lead you and those you love into an incredible year! I hope the beginning has been a blessing so far and, as always, I’d love to hear how you’re goal planning is going!
If you missed the 2024 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.
Intentionality is the main goal – see what I did there 😉 – here. Living on purpose for a purpose. That means regularly carving out time 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.
With that in mind, here are some preliminary thoughts on 2025.
Reading Goals
Last year taught me that my new job makes personal reading difficult in some seasons. There will be editing-heavy months that will cut into how much brain power I have left at the end of each day. But even so, I still managed to read at a pace comparative to previous years, so I’m feeling a little more confident in setting reading goals this year.
My Goodreads Reading Challenge goal this year is 65 books.
Last year, my goal started at 65 – which I bumped up mid-year – and I exceeded that with 98 books for the year. And despite the extra work reading I had, I ended up with around 80 non work reads, so that was exciting!
As for my usual subgoals, I plan to read 12 nonfiction books (at least 3 of which should be devotionals). I’ve made it through rereading the Keeper of the Lost Cities books I’d read in the past and so now this year, I’d like to read 3 new ones – 7, 8, & 8.5 – (If you’ve been around any length of time, you’ll see this is an improvement in my usually vastly overestimated goal in this area XD).
Other than that particular series, my main goal is to see if I can score some bingos in the 2025 Variety Bingo Reading Challenge Cassie and I are hosting this year. We’ve got 10+ custom made bingo cards to push us to read in a variety of ways (hence, the name of the challenge!). Anyone is welcome to join and there are fun bookish prizes!
A few books I hope to prioritize this year:
- Of Sea and Smoke by Gillian Bronte Adams
- The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien
- Emma by Jane Austen
- Atomic Habits by James Clear
- and some as of yet undecided rereads
And what are some of your reading goals for 2025? I always love finding recommendations!
GraceBought Goals
GraceBought is seven years old! Whoa! Honestly, if you’d told me seven years ago this is where we’d be, I’m not sure I would have believed it. It’s been amazing to connect with so many incredible bloggers, readers, and friends. You guys are what make this community amazing! Thank you.
If you missed the epic GraceBought announcement in the 2024 Wrap Up, let me reiterate: we’re moving! *party dance!!* GraceBought is moving to a paid domain (no ads! Double Yay!) at the end of the month. But! You can check out the shiny new GraceBought home now!
https://coralieterry.com/gracebought/ is our new home. We have some new blog headers and graphics and the new Book Review indexes that I’m super stoked about, but you can learn more about all the details with that 2024 Wrap Up post.
As for 2025, I’m mostly focusing on finalizing the transition and getting used to the new website. But if things go smoothly, I’m hoping to start growing the blog again. We’ll see!
Is there anything in particular you’d like to see as I consider these new updates and growing GraceBought? Drop a comment and let me know!
Writing Goals
Last year I’d planned to cut back on writing a lot – and I did! XD I can say I’ve really, really missed it. And honestly, felt a little frustrated I couldn’t write, even when I sat down to try.
I got a few thousand words out on a new idea and co-wrote another short story with Cassie for our reading challenge. I did also attend one writing conference, mostly with the goal of just being present and serving some of my friends there. I didn’t even attend a ton of the sessions. I continued to walk with Sara Ella in her mentorship, which was incredibly inspiring and helped with the healing process.
So, this year, I’m honestly not sure what to expect or plan for. I am hoping this will be a year of rebuilding habits and learning to hope again. I have stories that are in the wings waiting to be worked on and a few concepts I could tinker with to write new stories. I even have publishers who may be interested in an idea or two and asked to see one manuscript once I finished edits. But I’m trying to focus on baby steps and not just jump into high-pressure land right off the bat.
Lord willing, I do plan to attend one writing conference again this year. I’m also working toward building an email list of incredible supporters who want to know more about my stories and business. (If you’d like to join, you can do that here and get a free Cinderella retelling guide!)
Personal Goals
One major new goal I have for the year is to begin to build the small business I sort of accidentally launched! I’m working with two business coaches to begin to brainstorm what I could turn the coaching and editing side of GraceBought into – or what I even want to do with it. It’s been a blessing and I love the students and clients I’ve had! I’m hoping this is the year to take the business side of it more seriously and see where God takes it.
Unfortunately, the chronic insomnia and fatigue hasn’t gotten better, but worse this year. Some extenuating circumstances have exasperated the issue leading to a very sleep deprived Coralie for the last 5 months. I’m praying so much that this sleepless season will end soon! I’m trying to do what I can to mitigate it practically, so I don’t really have a specific goal other than get good sleep consistently.
Then, of course, I’m still attending and serving my church regularly in a number of capacities. I love playing in the orchestra, serving the music ministry, and plugging into small groups and Bible studies. Even this introvert needs a good, godly community to plug into regularly. Plus, fellowship is one of my favorite parts of this life God gave us!
One “apartment” goal (that’s not really an apartment specific goal, but lives in the “home projects” part of my brain) is to work on transferring a bunch of handwritten, printed off, and scrap paper recipes I have into a real recipe book. I’d love to have them more organized and easier to go through cause I love to cook both old recipes and new ones!
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Okay, so that’s quite a few things I’m hoping to see in 2025. But enough about me, tell me about your goals for 2025! What are your hopes and dreams for the year? And how can I be praying over your 2025?
Share below and let me know!
Here’s to another year with GraceBought (in a new place!)! It is my sincerest hope that you can find something here that makes you smile and encourages or helps you. Thank you for walking with me through this and may your 2025 brim with unimaginable blessings!
Love always,
Coralie