In 2025, I set quite a few goals that had to do with challenges hosted by other bloggers. I really don’t know what I was thinking. Goals are really not my thing, especially publicly announced ones. But yes, I’m going to set some here. And I’m also going to set some ungoals, things I will not do or will no longer do. Okay, ungoal is not a word, but our good friend Google says that what I mean is “strategic quitting.” Can I use not joining challenges hosted by other bloggers as one of my strategic quitting goals? I might need to, so I can get this list to our favorite number—ten.
The goals below are set in patterns. The first one is a strategic quitting (I think I like my made-up word better). Everything under it is what giving up something allows me to do (i.e., a goal) or not do (ungoal).
Engagement
- Quitting Instagram. Yes, I plan to quit Instagram this year. Social media was something I stopped during the pandemic and had not been on for years until I started this blog. I thought it would be a good idea. I was wrong. I could go into an entire post about that separately, but I will sum it up here. Instagram/Bookstagram does not serve me or my personality well at all. It brings out in me qualities that are anything but honoring to God—mindless scrolling, the need to take beautiful pictures (and being envious of those who can), trying to gain a larger and larger audience, etc. I will follow through with any commitments I have made, but in the meantime, I rarely get on there. Which brings me to my next goal.
- Comment on more blogs. As Instagram started taking over my life, I did not have time to read and comment on other blogs. I enjoy everything about writing, and that includes reading other Christian blogs and interacting with writers around our shared love of Christian books and faith. Note: If you have a blog, you’re a writer. Shannon Sue Dunlap told me so at Rendezvous 2025, and I have to believe her. She’s a writer and published author.
Book Tours
- Book tours. Okay, I am not quitting them entirely because I do enjoy them, but I will be reducing the number significantly. You will not see this right away because I signed up for them so far in advance, but I’d like to bring them down to just four a month. Because I’m quitting social media, that should bring the number down significantly all on its own. I also suspect that some authors and publishers may not want to work with me without a social media presence. I’ve made peace with that. Doing this will give me more time to…
- Tackle my TBR. Yes, I know that is part of many challenges, but I’m not going to join one because I don’t want to assign a number to anything. Every book I received last year as part of a book tour was truly because the book was one I thought I’d enjoy. Now, the bulk of them sit on the shelf unread. That makes me feel horrible for so many reasons.
Goodreads
- No GoodReads goal. Nope, I’m not going to set one. Okay, I am—I’m going to set it to 1. I’m so sorry that I can’t remember who said this last year, but one of the bloggers wrote that if you set the goal to one, it will just continue to track how many books you read throughout the year and give you all the stats. Thank you, kind blogger. Excellent suggestion! However, I am going to change the way I utilize it.
- Update Comments. I’ve gotten behind in my book reviews, and since my ratings for fiction are highly emotional, it’s hard for me to go back and get the details that I want for the review. Adding comments as I read will allow me to have what I need should I fall behind in reviews.
- Tags. I am keeping my favorites tag, but I’m changing up the others. I don’t really need a genre-specific tag because I track that in my book directory. What I did do is go through all of the previous Top Ten Tuesday posts and noticed some themes that are not easy for me to track unless I build a spreadsheet. But I don’t want a spreadsheet. I tried that and—ugh!—for work, fine; for home, not so much. Here are some new tags as a result of my analysis.
- Location tags. If you suddenly start seeing Pennsylvania (um, Amish books), Germany, etc., you know why.
- Movie / TV. Books I think would make good movies or TV shows. I sometimes mention that in reviews, but I’d like an easy reference.
- Favorite characters. I want to track more character traits, as it’s often something that people are interested in. I’m going to use the private notes section to add information about characters, even if they don’t make the favorite characters list.
The Book
- No Bible in a Year plan. Okay, I’ve never read the Bible in a year, but I always read about the plans, get excited about them, and then quickly abandon them. I have, however, read the Bible several times. But that’s the thing—I read it. Reading does not equate to study, so my Bible knowledge is minimal.
- Study by the book. I’d like to say I’m going to study one book a month, but the focus this year is not having goals with specific timelines or numbers associated with them. I’ll be starting with Matthew because the New Testament seems like the best place to start. It may take one week. It may take ten. Either way is fine.
- More Christian content. This won’t necessarily take the form of individual Bible study or devotional posts, although I reserve the right to do that. Instead, I’ll provide reviews of the nonfiction Christian books I read and add more information about faith themes and moral questions in my fiction reviews.
What are your 2026 bookish goals?
Thank you to The Artsy Reader Girl for hosting Top Ten Tuesday!
Carla's Book Crush 
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