January 2014 summary

Back at the beginning of the new year, I listed my 2014 reading and blogging goals. Now that we are one month into 2014, I have decided to check in and see how I’m doing.

1. GoodReads Reading Challenge… 100 Books.
   In January 2014 I finished only 6 books:
   Book #01: Broken Blade by JC Daniels (January 3, 2014)
   Book #02: Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Search by Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko, Gene Luen Yang (January 3, 2014)
   Book #03: Touch by Michelle Sagara (January 9, 2014)
   Book #04: Caught in Amber by Cathy Pegau (January 15, 2014)
   Book #05: The Key by KT Grant – Beta Read (January 19, 2014)
   Book #06: Rule Breaker by Lora Leigh (January 26, 2014)
   If I want to finish 100 books by the end of the year, I need to read on average 8.33 books per month. As you can see, I am a little behind schedule. I found that, while not in a true reading slump, I just couldn’t get into the books I was reading – even the ones I really wanted to read. I also found myself very busy at home, so I’ll cut myself some slack.
2. Reading books off of my TRB pile instead of picking up new-to-me authors and series.
   I FAILED at this one during January. I did read one book on my TBR backlist – the Avatar graphic novel has been sitting around on my nightstand for a while. So that is a win. However, I also read a new-to-me author in Cathy Pegau. I also did a Beta Read – which I won’t count against my goal, since I read the first book in the series as well.
3. Featuring more GLBT authors and books on the blog.
   In January, we featured two reviews and accompanying book tours in the GLBT genre. One m/m and one f/f. I think this is a good start to the year.
4. Spending more time reading and less time tweaking the blog.
   I would say I didn’t do the best with this during January – especially since I only read six books! I tweaked with the review format and redid my Review Policy Page. I’ll try harder next month!
5. Opening up Sunday Snippets to authors as a chance to spotlight his/her work.
   Ah ha! This is a win for January! As I mentioned above, I redid my Review Policy Page, which includes the submittal requirements for the new-and-improved Sunday Snippet feature. Plus we hosted two new-to-us authors who took advantage of the new feature. Woot!
6. Continue Saturday Conversations Posts, but open them up.
   Well, I did continue the feature, but I didn’t really do anything with it. I’m open to suggestions!

So how did YOUR January go? Did you accomplish any goals? Did you set any new ones? 

Thanks for stopping by to chat!