It has been a few years since I created an annual reading plan, and now that I’m settled in my new home (I’ve been here a year already) I’m ready to re-evaluate reading intentions.
Note: On July 22 I added midyear comments to evaluate my progress on each goal.
1. Booktube – I’ve had a Booktube channel on YouTube for 10 years. I’m not ready to quit. Video making is a fine hobby for an old-timer and it keeps my mind busy with learning new things whether it is video editing strategies or equipment. So my first reading intention is to continue with my Booktube hobby. I do not earn money with this channel and don’t ever intend to do so. I remain unmonetized there. It is just a hobby.
Midyear: I quit my Booktube channel on July 13. Here’s the final video. I haven’t given up the idea of making more videos, but most will probably be posted on a different channel.
2. Adventures – I am reading more nonfiction these days. I like to read about historical adventures and will continue with this genre for a while.
Midyear: I am still reading a lot of nonfiction, including maritime survival literature.
3. Health Issues – I plan to have more of a focus on health this year. I’ve been wanting to veer in this direction for months now. As I get older I encounter more health issues and I want to talk about them, not only for my own information, but to discuss them with others having similar issues. These will generally be presented in the context of literature.
Midyear: I need to focus more on my health.
4. Weird Fiction – There is one fiction genre that has come to my attention and intrigues me. That is ergodic fiction – meaning books with unusual and creative formats. I’ve been intrigued by this kind of novel writing for a long time with a focus on epistolary novels, and the ergodic genre takes this one level further. I want some novel reading fun.
Midyear: I haven’t kept this up in recent months, but may go back to it.
5. Writing – Of course, the challenge is to experience unusual genres, but I also want to write them! My interest in unusual novel formats stems from my desire to write such things. And so my Booktube channel is more likely to include writing information again this year, which hasn’t happened much since 2018.
Midyear: I did make some writing videos prior to quitting Booktube on my birthday, July 13. (A gift to myself, after years of struggling with that channel.) More importantly, I wrote some flash fiction. It feels great that I’ve dipped my toes back into fiction writing. Great fun.
6. California Literature – I’d like to focus more on California literature in both books and magazines.
Midyear: I haven’t done this much this year. There were two true crime type books that took place in California, and that’s all.
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7. Goals and Challenges – I’m not likely to be very involved in reading goals and schemes this year, but there are a few I’ll participate in.
A. The David McCullough Readalong – I started this a few months back. I’ll continue reading his books in 2025 and 2026 God willing.
Midyear: I’m still on track with my reading of David McCullough’s history books. Currently about halfway through Truman, the thickest book of all, about 1000 pages.
B. The 2025 Biblical Studies Challenge was created by @ReadJournalLove and I intend to follow her plan. The goal is to read one book monthly. The categories she chose are: January- Hermeneutics, February- Prayer, March- Missions, April- Gospel, May- Textural criticism, June- Heaven, July- Biblical archeology, August- Discipleship, September- Greek or Hebrew, October- Spiritual Warfare, November- Church History, December- Holiness.
Midyear: I’m still doing this but completely bombed on a couple of the months. I could have done better! But I haven’t given up and hope to continue with the books through December.
C. Read What You Own. This is so hard for me to commit to, but it is a bit of a necessity too. I have lots of books I bought with good intentions that haven’t been read. I know almost everyone who attempts this has certain categories of books they exempt. Same with me. I have these caveats:
Caveat #1: I have an annual Audible subscription that renews on Valentine’s Day – my gift to myself. That will be used for my mood reading adventures.
Caveat #2: I have some money saved on Amazon for buying books. This year I furnished my new home, often buying things from Amazon, and I have Prime Store Card Rewards built up since I get 5% back on everything I buy there. Those credits are intended for book buying. I reserve the right to buy books with that in case I absolutely have to have something.
Caveat #3: I may need to buy more books for the above-mentioned Biblical Studies Challenge although I will search my library of unread Christian books for something appropriate before trying to buy something new. These books could be paid for with the Amazon Prime Store Card Rewards.
…That’s about all. I really look forward to reading the books I’ve already purchased.
Midyear: I’m still doing this and have read 15 physical books from my home bookshelf. That means I’ve got to read another 85 books from my shelf before I resume buying books freely. That said, I did use some of my Amazon reward money to buy a few new books during July, my birthday month, per caveat #2.
D. Epistolary January – I love epistolary novels so I have to do this.
Midyear: I did not do well at Epistolary January, sorry to say. This is one more reason I needed to quit Booktube – so I can enjoy reading books again, without self-imposed pressures from challenges.
So those are my 2025 reading goals and intentions and of course I hope to make Booktube an ongoing thing as well. Here are a few Booktube goals for 2025:
1. I currently have 345 videos on this channel. I want to increase that to 500.
Midyear: This is not likely to happen since I quit Booktube in July. I may still post book review videos there, but I don’t want to participate in the community aspect as it is too emotionally painful for me. I now have 389 videos there so in six months I’ve made 44 videos. To reach 500 I’ll need to make 111 more.
2. I intend to make a lot of individual book reviews. I know they aren’t popular with other Booktubers but the original intention of my channel was to create these for others looking for information on a specific book. A lot of these will be about juvenile novels.
Midyear: I have yet to start.
3. I plan to create at least one tag video each month.
Midyear: I did not do it. I really am burnt out on tags.
4. I will start making videos about writing fiction.
Midyear: I did make some writing videos but they were not popular with the Booktube crowd. Too bad, because the writing videos gave me joy.
5. I will have an art video at least once monthly.
Midyear: I did not do it, but may still make art videos, on my art channel.
I think God laughs at all my silly intentions and goals as I rarely manage to accomplish everything I set out to do, but there’s no harm in trying and if God blesses my Booktube and reading efforts I’ll be happy, and full of joy. Only time will tell what comes next, but these are the plans I’ve made today.
–Christmas Eve 2024–
Hi Ms. Linda. You have a nice website. Good luck to you and your plans for 2025.
Take Care -James