Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Goals/Resolutions for 2014

Top Ten Tuesday
Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday! Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week bloggers post a top ten list related to a specific theme. This week's theme is Top Ten Goals/Resolutions for 2014. I have action items and everything for this post!

1. Write blog posts in advance.
In the last month or so, I started writing blog posts the night before they were "due." With commenting on people's blogs, responding to comments on my blog, and writing new posts, my nights were completely taken up by blogging. I would like to have my evenings more devoted to reading and other fun activities.

Plan:
  • Prepare two months of Top Ten Tuesdays in advance.
  • Prepare one month of Thoughtful Thursdays in advance.
  • Write reviews for ~10 books that I read prior to the blog, so I have posts ready to go, if I haven't finished a book or go on vacation.
2. Write reviews ASAP after finishing a book.
I used to write reviews on GoodReads right after I finished a book. This was because my reviews were just a few sentences. They were a snapshot of my feelings. Now that I write my reviews on my blog, I write longer reviews. Because the reviews take longer, I don't always want to sit down and write them. Reviews are much easier to write when the books are still fresh in my mind.

Plan:
  • Write a book review (doesn't need to be proofread) within 24 hours of finishing the book.
3. Create post templates.
Every time I create a new review/update/meme post, I have to go to my blog and copy and paste sections to create a new post. This year, I want to have templates for my most common posts in one spot, so the writing process is faster.

Plan:
  • Create templates for weekly update, monthly update, Top Ten Tuesday, Thoughtful Thursday, book review, and read-a-thon posts.
4. Be more active on Twitter.
I used to tweet with more people on Twitter and share interesting links. The site where I used to get fun bookish links doesn't share as much anymore, so I stopped sharing. Also, I just stopped making the time for Twitter, even though I really do enjoy this platform for communicating with authors and fellow bloggers.

Plan:
  • Interact with people on Twitter at least three times a day (M-F).
  • Post current day's post.
  • Post at least one interesting link per day (M-F)
5. Organize Feedly and Bloglovin'
I comment on blogs in a ridiculous way. Chrome is my main web browser, and I use Feedly to read blogs. I use my personal Google Account with Chrome and Feedly. I open up blog posts through Feedly and then proceed to comment on blogs. If I have to comment with Google+ or my Google Account, I copy the web address into Firefox. I use my blogger Google Account on Firefox, so when I open these blogs on Firefox, I can post with my blogger Google Account or Google+. There are not too many bloggers that make me post with Google+ or with my Google Account, but it is enough that the process is intensive. Everything would be faster, if I just used one web browser for everything, so I need to fiddle with things. Also, my Bloglovin' account doesn't have everyone I currently visit through Feedly. Because people can follow me (not just my blog) through Bloglovin', I want to have everyone I follow on Bloglovin', so they can get some "lovin'."

Plan:
  • Make sure everyone on Feedly is also on Bloglovin'
  • Move all blog commenting to one web browser.
6. Comment more efficiently.
I really like to comment on people's posts. I think that it is important to comment, so people feel appreciated. Also, I have gotten to know a lot of bloggers through comments. Finally, commenting on people's posts sends out good karma (and *hopefully* comments on my posts). At the same time, I spend a lot of time commenting on blog posts. I need to shrink this time down, so it is more manageable.

Plan: 
  • Review the list of blogs that I visit
  • Create a set of criteria for commenting
  • Set a time limit for daily commenting
7. Be better about posting reviews on GoodReads, LibraryThing, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble.
I have started slacking on when I post reviews on sites outside of my blog. This ends up costing me extra time in the end, because I have to keep checking and double checking where I have and have not posted reviews.

Plan: 
  • Keep a spreadsheet of (review) books and note where their reviews have been posted
  • Pick a day of the week to post all book reviews that went up on my blog that week (or another system that manages this issue)

8. Update the blog's pages.

I really want to have more useful information at readers' fingertips. For example, some bloggers have pages about their rating system, about what books they have reviewed, with links to their favorite posts, and about their blog's stats. I think these types of pages would be helpful.

Plan:
  • Create a page describing my rating system
  • Update About Me page
  • Create a page with links to reviews
  • Create a page with blog's stats
  • Create a page with a handful of favorite posts
9. Use Google+ more.
I have a Google+ page, and I interact with some people through Google+, but I don't use it very often. I know that this isn't a very popular form of social media, but I have started using it, so I want to take better advantage of this service, especially since I use Blogger.

Plan:
  • Explore Google+ more
  • Start using Google+ at least one time per day (M-F)
10. Exercise
I have become a lot more sedentary this past year, and I am noticing a difference in how my clothes fit. I don't want to have to buy larger clothes, so I need to lose weight to fit into my existing clothes. 

Plan:
  • Exercise 5 times per week
  • Create a reward system to ensure success

30 comments:

Angela's Anxious Life said...
January 7, 2014 at 2:28 AM

OMG I know how you feel about commenting. Sometimes I comment way too much. But I love to comment... AYE! Two months of top ten tuesdays in advance is good!! I usually only participate if there is nothing going on on my blog or if the topic is sometimes I want to talk about. I didn't do this week's because technically I already did a post of my 2014 goals.

Chanzie said...
January 7, 2014 at 4:07 AM

Awesome Goals Pamela :) I write my review of a book within 48 hours of finishing it, what also helps is I make notes about the book as I read it, which also helps when putting the review together.
For posting reviews, I made myself a checklist of all the places I post either a review or review link!

Good luck with your goals. I will be posting my resolutions a bit later as I forgot to make it before I posted a review for a tour which needs to be the top post of the day.

Chanzie @ Mean Who You Are.

Nathan (@reviewbarn) said...
January 7, 2014 at 7:24 AM

Blog posts in advanced? Listen, I wrote 10 page papers in college the night before, I will do the same with my blog posts =) I am mentally unable to do anything else.

Oh geez, I need to look through my pages again and it has only been a few months. Those things always seem to need updated.

My biggest goal is to go through the blog and backlink similar reviews better; specifically list a whole series if i review a whole series.

Susan said...
January 7, 2014 at 8:37 AM

I'm glad you comment a lot -- it makes me feel loved :)

Good luck with all your goals! I hope you accomplish everything you want to in 2014. Happy New Year!

Lisa Schensted said...
January 7, 2014 at 9:47 AM

Writing blog posts in advance, while tough, is SO HELPFUL.

AND YAY for being more active on Twitter! I swear that is one of the best bookish motivators out there. The community is so great!

Good luck with the exercise! If you want a suggestion, my personal reward system is that I can buy something when I lose x amount of weight or exercise x times per month. Be it a book, a shirt, shoes. Whatever! But I pick the item and have it next to the scale as a reminder. :)

GO YOU!

Greg said...
January 7, 2014 at 4:56 PM

Great goals, I can relate to a lot of these! Using templates, being on Twitter more... and I'm terrible at putting my reviews on Goodreads!

I try to write reviews soon after finishing a book, it seems to go better that way... usually anyways. :)

Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer said...
January 7, 2014 at 5:03 PM

Fantastic goals and creating that cushion on posts will certainly allow you do have time to meet all of your goals. Good luck :)

Unknown said...
January 7, 2014 at 7:50 PM

I love to comment too. Plus if I am already reading the post, I figure I might as well say something! Oh well. :)

Unknown said...
January 7, 2014 at 7:51 PM

I made a checklist, so I can make sure that all the books that need reviews posted in multiple places will happen.

Unknown said...
January 7, 2014 at 7:54 PM

I always needed two days to write 10 page papers in college, so to each his own. :) I need to backlink too, but I think I am going to put that off for another year!

Unknown said...
January 7, 2014 at 7:55 PM

I am glad you appreciate the comments. :) I enjoy reading your posts!

Unknown said...
January 7, 2014 at 7:58 PM

Thanks! :)

I have a little over a week's worth of posts done, and I feel so much more relaxed! I have more time on my hands each night. I am really enjoying the freedom that comes with it.

Unknown said...
January 7, 2014 at 7:59 PM

Now that I am not madly writing a post the night before, writing a book review immediately after finishing the book doesn't feel so awful. This year is looking up! :)

Unknown said...
January 7, 2014 at 8:02 PM

Thanks! Your post on blogging burnout was timely, because I had been working on scheduling my posts and preventing burnout when you posted it. :)

Anne @ Lovely Literature said...
January 7, 2014 at 8:08 PM

I keep trying to think up some kind of reward system for working out that involves books. So maybe if I log 20 workouts a month, I then get to buy a new book. While I should probably run that past the husband, I think he would appreciate that my clothes fit better too!

Also, the fact that you wrote out some action items is awesome. I think you are already on track to achieving. :)

Unknown said...
January 7, 2014 at 8:18 PM

That is one of the things that I have learned from work, you need to be make quantifiable goals. :)

Lauren said...
January 7, 2014 at 10:22 PM

The planning alone, is a major, major goal! I need to do this again so bad. Also writing reviews immediately after finishing is huge. It's so much easier but it's so easy to just move along to the next book :P Organizing Feedly as well... actually I just love your list! I'm going to bokomark this and come back to it tomorrow because you have some great ideas I will incorperate into mine I think. Or just things I should try to do in general!!! Good luck on your list Pamela!! I also want to thank you SOOO much for commenting and visiting my blog SOO much. I swear, every day I think you visit me and I love it and appreciate it so much! I know I don't reply very timely or hop back to visit you as often as you do me but I just wanted to say thanks :) It's one of my goals to have better time management with comments and visitng other blogs (my feedly is a disaster, at best) so I hope to change that but I just dont want you to think that I'm ignoring you and your lovely blog too <3

Unknown said...
January 7, 2014 at 11:08 PM

You are so sweet! I enjoy reading your blog, and well, I am addicted to commenting. :)

Feel free to copy my list. I decided to be horribly detailed for me, but I thought others would appreciate it too. Feel free to email/tweet, if you have any questions or advice. :)

Anonymous said...
January 8, 2014 at 12:44 AM

These are all things I need to badly work on. So far I've only done good with exercising. And I've only done that for two days. Haha!

Good luck Pam! :D

Unknown said...
January 8, 2014 at 2:18 AM

WOW! Your blogging goals are awesome and downright specific. Is it possible to copy yours? xD

1. I used to write blog posts in advance but I've gone quite lazy for the last few months. It is a habit that I intend to revive this 2014.

2. Write Reviews ASAP- I always do this because when I don't, I suffer from reviewing slumps and it's not really good. I do write them in a word doc format.

3. Create post templates- Wise decision! it will save you a lot of time. One of the things I love about Wordpress is that it has a plugin that solely existed for that purpose.

4. Twitter- I get you, Pam. This is one blogging stuff that I really couldn't conquer. I am really bad at tweeting to other bloggers. Le sigh.

5. Another blogging aspect that really drains my energy. All those tons of posts make me feel like a drowned blogger. Bwahahaha.

6. Comment more efficiently- I think I am getting the hang of it but as you've said, I need to practice my efficiency because I have the tendency to dilly dally on them. >.<

7. Ahh. What I usually is do all of them at the same time. When I post a review on my blog, I also update my booklikes, Amazon, and goodreads account.

8. No problem with this one. I have an obsessive compulsive disorder when it comes to updating my blog pages. It's a form of therapy for me.

9. I ditched Google Plus after I transferred to Wordpress. :(

10. Exercise. WOW! This is the goal that I must really do. Heavens, my jeans and shirts barely fit me at all. And the family is already worried for my overall health. The thing is I don't have the right discipline yet to follow routines and eating a healthy diet. I know, I am bad.

Great list, Pam! I hope you'll be able to achieve all of them! Go! Go! Go!

Vilia said...
January 8, 2014 at 4:04 AM

Wow, you've gone to so much effort with this :) I have quite a few of the same things but I didn't go into as much detail.

Charnell @ Reviews from a Bookworm said...
January 8, 2014 at 5:49 PM

I didn't do this weeks TTT. But pretty much EVERYTHING you mentioned is something that I need to work on too!

1 - I write all of mine the same day or night before. I get so jealous of people who say they have a schedule - or posts scheduled in advance. I have no idea how they got that organised and on top of things!

2 - I do this now. I keep notes when I read, but if I don't write it straight away then I start to forget what I wanted to say!

3- I have to copy and paste too! I am just not sure where and how I should save the template in order to make it faster! :)

4 - I am trying to get more active on Twitter... it's just finding the time and getting the hang of it! 140 characters is not a lot to work with!

5 - Haven't used Feedly before... I don't think...

6. Yes! I really need this... I spend so many nights commenting till 3am, it's kind of embarrassing. I really need to limit myself on that.

7- I need to do this too! I recently had to go and add EVERY blog review to Amazon as I had only done 1 so far. Was not fun.

8- I really need to update my pages. I don't even have an About Me page.

9 - G+, still not very confident with it, and don't use it very often.

10 - I must do this too. My parents gifted me with an exercise bike for Christmas to go in my flat. I had wanted a bike for ages but am too scared of cycling in the road, so they hoped this would satisfy me. It has! I just need to make time to actually use it.

Pam, your list is amazing. These are all things that I need to do myself. I especially need to write some reviews for books I read before I started the blog. I won't remember everything though, and that makes me nervous about writing the review.

Berls said...
January 11, 2014 at 12:29 PM

Awesome list - I have a lot of the same goals. I stopped using bloglovin because it became a disaster for me (things were about as complex as you're describing, though in different ways) and I have finally switched to following via email. it's not perfect because I only have 24 hours a day, but it's better for me.

I also would love to get ahead - in fact one of my goals for today is to sit and write a ton of my posts, so fingers crossed! Oh and I can't remember if you've joined in on #bookblogwalkers (that would require keeping something straight in this confused mind of mine) over at the Geeky Bloggers Book Blog, but if you haven't it would fit in really well with your 10th goal and it already has a potential reward system in place (monthly giveaways!).

Unknown said...
January 14, 2014 at 11:22 PM

Thanks! I I haven't been good about the exercising just yet. I weighed myself today, and I am super motivated now!

Unknown said...
January 14, 2014 at 11:25 PM

Thanks! Feel free to copy all the resolutions you want. I like resolutions that I can track. OMG. I weighed myself today, and I know why my pants don't fit so well anymore! I think I am going to link exercising with buying books at Goodwill. I really like going to Goodwill, so I think this might work. *fingers crossed*

Unknown said...
January 14, 2014 at 11:28 PM

I got really into making this post. :)

Unknown said...
January 14, 2014 at 11:32 PM

I must admit that I feel better knowing that I am not the only person who needs to work on blog-related things. Writing reviews for books pre-blog are never easy, but it is nice to have the cushion. :)

Unknown said...
January 14, 2014 at 11:33 PM

I was thinking about doing the #bookblogwalkers but then I got distracted. I will have to look into it again.

Alysia @ My Little Pocketbooks said...
January 21, 2014 at 7:33 PM

OMG! We have some of the same things. #2,5 6 and of course10!

Pamela D said...
January 22, 2014 at 1:54 PM

I am glad that I am not the only one who struggles with these things! :)

Leave a Comment

Back to Home Back to Top Reading Is Fun Again. Theme ligneous by pure-essence.net. Bloggerized by Chica Blogger.