I love a new year...

Fave books of 2022, a new book coming, two reading challenges, and my newest obsession...

Happy New Year!

To those of you out there who believe Jan. 1 is just another day and that the year changing is an arbitrary event (I’m looking at you, dear husband), I have to say, I don’t understand you but still love you. I, for one, freaking love a new year.

New Year’s is actually my favorite holiday of all. Other holidays come with obligations. You have to go somewhere or do something. Or, in my case for things like Easter, Thanksgiving, or Christmas, I have to cook and feed many people. (I love cooking but cooking for a large group stresses me out.)

New Year’s, on the other hand, is usually spent quietly at home for us. This year was an exception because hubs got COVID right before Christmas, so we had to move the big celebration and all the cooking to yesterday. But now, here I am on the other side of it, and I’m thrilled.

I love the feel of a fresh start. In some ways, I treat every month that way because I set goals at the beginning of each month and then evaluate them at the end. Each month is a mini-reboot. But the new year is the biggie. It means I also get to buy new planners, set them up, and evaluate the previous year and set new goals. I love the ritual of taking down calendars and packing away that year’s planners. (#nerdy)

Plus, you know, sometimes all that goal-setting works. I’m 30lbs lighter today than I was last New Year’s (via Weight Watchers and walking the dog), so hey, I actually stuck to something! :)

I also picked the phrase “Have Fun” last year as my Word(s) of the Year. I chose that phrase because I wanted to have fun in my writing again. I accomplished that as well, finishing up Good Girl Fail, which comes out on the 17th! (Go forth and preorder, we’ll wait here until you come back.)

This year my word is NOURISH. I know that one is a little cliche, but it fits, so I’m going with it. I want to focus on cooking great meals, taking care of my home and family, and nourishing my creativity.

My new obsession

Speaking of taking care of my house, I have a new obsession—books about homekeeping, in particular, Martha Stewart books. I’ve always loved an organizing book, but this time, my interest is more about cleaning and maintenance stuff. It’s an odd thing to get obsessed with, but I think it probably has a lot to do with me craving peace and order (and control, because man, I love control! Lol.) Here’s a peek from my DayOne reading journal:

We’re coming out of a very busy season as a family, and I’m ready to feel…capable? Prepared? On top of things? Some word that falls in the mix of those. I even bought a planner dedicated to cleaning and organizing. We shall see how it goes. (On a related note, I found this article, The Relationship Between Mental Health and Cleaning, really interesting.)

Anyone else have any new obsessions lately?

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My Favorite Books of 2022 & A Podcast Announcement

If you missed it last week, Dawn and I wrapped up the year by sharing our favorite reads of 2022! It’s a great list, if I do say so myself.

We also shared that it would be our last regular episode. A new year means new starts, but it can also mean other things have to end. Our schedules have been too hectic to keep up with the every-other-week podcast, but we may pop in for special episodes when time allows. Thank you to all of you who have listened over the past year! We had so much fun doing the show.

And good news for you as a subscriber of this newsletter—my book recs won’t go away, they’ll just be moving to this space instead. So expect book recs in 2023!

My 2023 Reading Challenges

If you’ve followed me for a while, you know I love a reading challenge. In 2022, I tried to change it up, doing a retro romance challenge and an indie romance challenge. I failed those pretty spectacularly lol. I’m not totally sure why, but they apparently didn’t speak to me.

So this year, I’m going back to my tried and true challenge, the one that has been a joy for me over the years: The Read Wide Challenge. I haven’t done a new post for it, but if you want the basics, here’s a breakdown of the challenge and at the bottom, you can download your own template.

The beauty is that you can pick your own categories, so it’s customized to you. I’ve found that this challenge hits the sweet spot between reducing decision fatigue in choosing what to read by providing some structure but also not being so prescriptive that my mood reader self feels trapped.

Because I’ve moved out of my paper reading journal to the DayOne app this past year (and am still loving that change), I made a Read Wide page for my regular planner (by Cloth & Paper). These are my personal categories this year:

In addition to that challenge, I’m also bringing back my TBR Backlog challenge. You can see the details of that one and get a template here, but it’s pretty straightforward. I need to get through some of my older books because they’re languishing on my shelf, and I also need to pay special attention to reading my Book of the Month books. Here’s my page for that:

Hopefully, I will have better luck this year with the challenges than I did in 2022 because I know I’ve done well with these in the past and find them fun.

Are you doing any reading challenges this year? I know some people find them fun and others find them stressful. :)

Welp, I think that’s all for now! I hope your first week of 2023 is fantastic. Happy reading!

Roni

*Book links are affiliate links (Amazon, Libro.fm, and/or Bookshop.org), which means I earn a small commission if you buy through my links. Also, I receive advanced listening copies of some audiobooks through Libro.fm’s Influencer program. However, all reviews and opinions are my own.