[TSS] Goals for the New Year

Welcome to 2015!  This week I'll be celebrating my blogoversary here at Southern Girl Reads! Tuesday, January 6 will mark my 7th anniversary and I'm very excited to continue sharing more great books and stories with all of you! I also want to thank the many readers of SGR over the last 9 years and let you know how much your continued support and interaction means to me. I'm ready and anxious to see where this year takes me, both in my personal and reading/blogging life!

One area that I worked hard on last year that had a profoundly positive effect on me was the decision to take better care of myself.  I didn't focus on daily workouts and exercise regimes as I did just changing the way I eat and think about food. I actually didn't do a lot of exercise but I still managed to lose weight and, most importantly, I learned how to be smart about food.  I must say that after reading JJ Smith's 10 DAY \GREEN SMOOTHIE CLEANSE, it stated that it would change the way I think about food and, honestly, I thought, OK, sure... but it really did do that for me! I'm planning to incorporate the recipes from that book into my daily life and let it give me a boost whenever I need it.  I really have to get back on track because I have basically no will power when it comes to holiday foods. I'm so glad they are behind me and now I can return my focus to eating healthy. This unseasonably warm weather we've been having has also helped me get away from the normal winter comfort foods that I tend to rely on in the cold months. I've actually been eating salads lately and they've tasted very refreshing.

As far as my reading life goes, I want to explore more short stories this year. I've never spent a lot of time with them and I think I'm cheating myself out of some great writing. Because of my love for Southern Fiction, I'm especially looking forward to some classic Flannery O'Connor, Joan Williams,.and maybe even some Faulkner. I recently came across an article on Flavorwire.com (April 2014) outlining 20 great southern short stories and I plan to use that as a reference point.

 With that said, I don't plan to focus solely on southern short stories. The beauty of shorts is that they don't occupy all of your time! I also want to continue with Karin Slaughter's crime thriller series, Will Trent and also Louise Penny's Inspector Gamache series. THE GOLDFINCH is a book I started last year and for whatever reason, set it aside. I'm planning to pick that book up this month and get through it. I do think it'll be worth the time in reading.

Audio books have become a huge part of my reading over the last two years and I find I enjoy them more than I ever thought I would. They are so convenient and as long as I like the narrator, I'm all in! The first audio book I'll be starting this year is ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE by Anthony Doerr.  Over the last few years, I've become interested in stories focused around the German  Occupation of France in WWII and it's effect on the people of both countries, especially the younger generation. The reviews for this audio book are fantastic.  It sounds like something I will get totally lost in. I'm very excited about it.

I'd love for you to share your goals for 2015 and I hope you'll come back often and see how mine are coming. I'd also like to wish everyone a great new year filled with happiness, health and great books!

The Sunday Salon: New Year, New Goals

Now that the holidays are over, I'm anxious to get started on this new year of ours. I'm being optimistic that 2014 is going to be a positive year for me. Of course, I hope for this each year, but, as you know, life has a way of making minced meat out of our plans. I thought I would use this post to outline some of the changes I've decided to implement in my life, both book related and not. 

The most important thing I want to have in my life this year is the positivity and I've made the decision to eliminate sources of negativity that can create so much upheaval and unhappiness. I may not be able to completely remove the source from my life, but I can control how I react to it. Last year had a lot of difficulty related to this and I don't want this for 2014. 

One of the ways I plan to keep positive is to get back to a daily devotional. One of the ways I plan to do this is to do something I intended to do about 5 years ago. I will be reading The One Year Bible. This is a great way to break down the Bible, that can be very confusing and enable you to read it in one year's time. I will also be spending more time praying and having quiet time for myself just to sit and reflect. I have all the time in the world, so this should not be a problem for me at all. Frankly, I'm looking forward to this new plan. I think we all need to spend some time with ourselves to 'check in' and make sure we are on the best path for ourselves. 

The second change I've made for this new year is to resign from the She Reads Book Club. I began my involvement with them in January of 2013 and it has been a worthy experience. However, as my eye disease progressed last year, I found myself pushing aside books I own and really want to read.to make room for the book club picks. Don't get me wrong, most of them were terrific books that I'm glad I read but others...not so much. I would much rather spend the time I have left ro read real books with the ones I choose to read. Thanks to the Kindle Daily Deals, I have acquired some really great reads that I am dying to start reading! I will continue to follow all the great bloggers in the She Reads network and promote those authors as well. 

I read 40 books last year, even though I haven't posted two of the reviews yet. i am very happy with that number, which is up from 30-something the previous year. I listened to more audio books in 2013 and found I enjoy them more and more. I plan to listen to at least twelve this year. I get so much housework done while listening, so that's a perk! 

Since I will be able to focus on books in my TBR pile this year, I'm really looking forward to reading more crime fiction.  I want to continue with the Louise Penny crime series and I also want to read Karin Slaughter's  Will Trent Series. There's also a few new-to-me authors I want to read. Wiley Cash is at the top of the list, as is Wally Lamb. A few of the books at the top of my TBR pile are AND THE MOUTAINS ECHOED, THE GOLDFINCH. and LOST LAKE by Sarah Addison Allen. I could go on and on, as I'm sure you know. There are so many wonderful books out there and I wish I could just sit and do nothing but read all the time, but we all know that isn't possible  

Along with my reading and spiritual goals, I'm also taking control of my body this year by eating healthy foods and avoiding the quick fixes that push all those diet ads we see all teh time. I just downloaded the Kindle version of Nina Planck's REAL FOOD and I hope to learn a lot from it. It promises to be very interesting. Two years ago, I lost 30 pounds on Weight Watchers by changing my eating habits and learning about food. But in the last year, I've put on a lot of that weight. I took it off before and I will be doing it again this year. I'll be using a few different techniques and I'll be sharing them here on the blog on Saturdays, like I did when I was on WW. I hope you'll follow my progress and if I can encourage anyone else to get healthy by eating right, all the better! 

So there it is. Those are the goals I've set for myself this year. I'm really looking forward to a fresh start and good things. If you'd like to see the list of books I read in 2013, just click the tab at the top of this page. Click on any title to ready my thoughts. Here's wishing everyone a happy, healthy and productive new year!