Top Ten Tuesday (1)

I've seen this meme (which is obviously eventified every Tuesday) around on several blogs, and most recently on Xpresso Reads and Gizmo's Reviews. I felt like it would be a fun meme to participate in, so here I am today, ready to try it out. It also helps that I have another snow day today:) It's hosted by The Broke and The Bookish, which is an excellent blog you should definitely take a look at if you haven't already.

Top Ten Goals/Resolutions for 2014 (not in any particular order):

1. One of my absolute most important resolutions this year is to only request ARCs that I know I will read. Also, I want to make sure I only request as many ARCs as I can manage to read. I hate to admit this, but I did terribly at this last year, and requested WAY more ARCs than I could hope to read as a high school student; I had to stay up until 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning simply to read as much as I did last year. I really hope I won't force myself to do that again.

2. Set a smaller reading goal for myself. Last year I ended up reading a total of 370 books, and I really can't afford to do that again. When I should have been studying for AP Bio or, more importantly, the ACT and SAT, I was instead found reading. More stunts like that and I could kill my (impossible) hopes of going to Princeton:'(

3. Try and do more than just read. I really need more hobbies. If anyone asked me what my hobby was, the only thing I could mention would be my love of reading. Thankfully, I've already expanded on that a little, and now I can add graphic designing and watching movies to that list.

4. Never, ever, delete all my posts again. That was one of the stupidest things I did in all of 2013, and I'm sure I'll never make a mistake. Still, this fourth resolution can act as a safeguard instead I ever forget the consequences of deleting more than 100 of my older posts.

5. Try and get more followers for my book blog, and write posts that are interesting enough to be commented on. If no one's noticed, I have a serious lack of comments on my posts:( I hope I can do whatever it takes to persuade people to comment! I should also check out more blogs and comment more on other blogs; I'm really lacking in that area as well.

6. Read and review books that not only I want to read, but other people would actually like to see reviews about. I guess this basically means I should read more current books instead of just the books I feel like reading. I would do this, but then I start feeling like reading is a chore. I mean, it'd be cool as a job, but it's not like I'm making any money off of this (just saying). I'll have to try and find a balance between the two.

7. Host more giveaways, or at least feature some more on my blog. This is very important since I only have two giveaways on this blog, which was up since November. That might not sound bad, but I only had three giveaways when you count all the posts on this blog even before I deleted the old posts. I started that blog in July O_O 

8. This one isn't really a resolution, but more of a hope: win more first-read giveaways on Goodreads! I've only won two so far, and both experiences were so very exciting. I actually won three giveaways, but the third author never sent me the book...that was disappointing:/ I really hope I win more this year (or at least one this year); I did faithfully review both the books I received. 

9. Read at least one book every Friday. Fridays are my free days, and it's kind of stupid to take a nap when instead I could be reading and reviewing a book. I guess I should stop pressuring myself to stay up 'till 3:00 every morning, and instead just stop taking naps. I'm sure it'll all even out somehow.

10. Also important: stop buying books I know I won't read more than once. I was pretty good at this until I started looking at other people's blogs and saw their beautifully, overfilled bookshelves. I think I might have gotten just a teeny bit jealous, and attempted to do the same. Though I'm not paying for my own books yet, I still feel this is a waste of money that can be spent on better things (like the new boots I really want!!). So I shall have to learn to resist the lure of pretty books at Barnes & Noble.

So that's the end of my first, really fun (at least it was for me) Top Ten Tuesday! Oh, and I almost forgot! Remember my New Year's Resolution about eating one junk food (still don't know what that means) every day? Well, I kind of failed after two days *blushes*. I hope you guys have better luck with your resolutions!!