2016 Blogger New Years Challenge: Day 13 and 14

So I was sick yesterday, stupid stomach bug that's been going around, so I didn't get to post yesterday's topic.  I'm going to fix that and add that in with today's topic, if you all don't mind. 

For those of you that don't know this amazing challenge that I participated in last year is hosted by the amazing and wonderfully talented Parajunkee.  I'm excited to participate again this year and honestly I hope it kicks this year off with some great blogging habits.  I really feel like I failed last year and had the biggest reading and blogging slump I've ever had.  So I'm hoping to change that this year. 

 

If you would like to participate, more information can be found here!

 

 

 

 

Day 13: Reader/Blogger Cons You Want to Attend

 

 

Well this year is going to be a bit different, I normally attend the Lori Foster Reader and Author Get Together every year.  This year I'm going to be getting married on the main day of the convention, so I wont be able to attend.  I'm really sad about that fact, but super excited to be getting married to my amazing fiance. 

 

The only other convention that I'm planning on attending this year will be Imaginarium, I'll post more information about it when the convention dates come closer.  Just know it is a fantastic convention here in Kentucky and it's for Writers and Readers alike.  I actually will be working that weekend as a Literary agent and more than likely taking pitches. 

Day 14: 2016 Goals and Wishlist for Your Blog

So this should be fun, my main goal is to bring the fun back into my reading.  I also want to clean up my tags and Goodreads shelves as well this year.  I'm not really big on numbers, but I would like to reach 1000 followers on my Facebook page at some point this year.   Would love to have more guest posts and features for authors and bloggers alike.  I think Bloggers should be highlighted as well, blogging and reviewing takes a lot of hard work.  

 

 

2016 Blogger New Year's Challenge: Day 12

For those of you that don't know this amazing challenge that I participated in last year is hosted by the amazing and wonderfully talented Parajunkee.  I'm excited to participate again this year and honestly I hope it kicks this year off with some great blogging habits.  I really feel like I failed last year and had the biggest reading and blogging slump I've ever had.  So I'm hoping to change that this year. 

If you would like to participate, more information can be found here!

 

Day 12: A 2015 Blogger Horror Story

My only horror story for 2015 is that I didn't read enough.  Felt like it was all forced and I hate that feeling. Not much of a horror story though, I guess it would be in the eyes of an avid reader though.  (Feels like I keep repeating myself, but it's the truth.)  I just hope I don't have to say this for 2016.  So far so good though! I'm on my third book for the year, which is pretty good for me.  

 

2016 Blogger New Year's Challenge: Day 11

For those of you that don't know this amazing challenge that I participated in last year is hosted by the amazing and wonderfully talented Parajunkee.  I'm excited to participate again this year and honestly I hope it kicks this year off with some great blogging habits.  I really feel like I failed last year and had the biggest reading and blogging slump I've ever had.  So I'm hoping to change that this year. 

If you would like to participate, more information can be found here! 

Day 11: How Many Books Are You Reading in 2016? Top Books On Your TBR?

So I'm planning to read at least 80 books this year.  If I can read more, I'll be ecstatic, but if not I'll be really happy with 80.  As far as my Top Books on my TBR this year, the first would have to be Passenger by Alexandra Bracken and I'm reading it right now.  

The others are below: 

A few of these are for challenges that I'm participating in this year and a few of them are books that I've already started.  

2016 Blogger New Years Challenge: Day 10

For those of you that don't know this amazing challenge that I participated in last year is hosted by the amazing and wonderfully talented Parajunkee.  I'm excited to participate again this year and honestly I hope it kicks this year off with some great blogging habits.  I really feel like I failed last year and had the biggest reading and blogging slump I've ever had.  So I'm hoping to change that this year. 

If you would like to participate, more information can be found here!  

Day 10 Topic: Changes You'll Be Doing in 2016

There are several changes I'll be making around here on the blog, one before participating in a few challenges. This past year, the only challenge I participated in was my normal Goodreads Challenge.  I found that not participating in the challenges, I tended to not read as much as previous years.  So this year I'll be participating in a few different challenges.  I'll still be shooting for my Goodreads Challenge. This year though I've set my book to read at 80 books.  I was going to go with 100, but I don't want to feel like I'm forcing myself to read either, so 80 should be a good fit.  

I'll also be participating in the 2016 Netgalley & Edelweiss Reading Challenge. For this challenge I've set my goal at 25 books.  I have plenty of Netgalley books to pick from.  The other challenge I'll be participating in is one that I've done before and it's the 2016 TBR Pile Challenge.  A lot of the books that I'm wanting to read for both of these challenges work for both.  Which of course is great! For the 2016 TBR Pile Challenge I'm shooting for 41 to 50 books.  

This year I want to bring a bit of my life into the blog as well, as you all know I'm not just a blogger.  I'm a mother, a literary agent, marketing executive and a few other things.  I'm also getting married this year and would love to share that with you all as well.  So much going on, 2016 is going to be one crazy busy year. 

GIVEAWAYS!! I want to bring a lot more of these to the blog, I've had some in the past, but I have tons of books for giveaways, but always forget to post them.  I'm hoping you all will be happy about this.  

The last idea I've had lately is bringing some of the other things I love in my life and bring it the Ali's Bookshelf.  One being cooking, I've been tinkering with this idea for little over a year, but cooking videos will be coming to the blog soon.  Cooking with Ali, will be a segment on the blog where I review a cook book and cook one of it's recipes.  I'm really excited about this and hope to have it going by May.  Keep your fingers crossed that I can learn how to use my new camera by then.   

Anyway, I'm planning a lot of new changes to the blog and I hope you all stick around to see them.  

 

2016 Blogger New Years Challenge: Day 7 and 8

For those of you that don't know this amazing challenge that I participated in last year is hosted by the amazing and wonderfully talented Parajunkee.  I'm excited to participate again this year and honestly I hope it kicks this year off with some great blogging habits.  I really feel like I failed last year and had the biggest reading and blogging slump I've ever had.  So I'm hoping to change that this year. 

If you would like to participate, more information can be found here!  

 

Day 7: Top Ten Blogger Pet Peeves

 

So I had a sick kid yesterday so I'm playing catch up today.  Anyway, yesterday the topic was blogger pet peeves.  I don't really have many of them, to be honest I have none.  My only thing that I'm really big on is those bloggers that think it's okay to steal other bloggers reviews.  Or the ones that steal other posts from bloggers.  That's just not okay! 

Day 8: 2016 Trends You Hope To See

 

I'm not really sure if there are any trends I hope to see.  The one thing I do know is that I want to bring the fun back to my blog so honestly I hope I see more of that.  Lately, in the past few years I've seen some amazing blogs shut down due to losing the fun and love of reading.  That really makes me sad.  

 

 

 

 

2016 Blogger New Years Challenge: Day 5

For those of you that don't know this amazing challenge that I participated in last year is hosted by the amazing and wonderfully talented Parajunkee.  I'm excited to participate again this year and honestly I hope it kicks this year off with some great blogging habits.  I really feel like I failed last year and had the biggest reading and blogging slump I've ever had.  So I'm hoping to change that this year. 

If you would like to participate, more information can be found here!  

 

 

 

 

Day 5: Best Books of 2015

 

 

Okay I'm going to say right now that I was in a total reading slump last year, but I do have a favorite book, well it's actually two favorite books that I read in 2015. 

 

 

 

 Both of these books made me cry and laugh, then want to throw them against the wall, but I still love them so much.  I wasn't able to just pick one of them as my favorite for the year, so it's a tie! 

What about you, what was your favorite book or books of 2015?

 

 

 

 

2016 Blogger New Year's Challenge: Day 4

For those of you that don't know this amazing challenge that I participated in last year is hosted by the amazing and wonderfully talented Parajunkee.  I'm excited to participate again this year and honestly I hope it kicks this year off with some great blogging habits.  I really feel like I failed last year and had the biggest reading and blogging slump I've ever had.  So I'm hoping to change that this year. 

 

If you would like to participate, more information can be found here!  

Day 4: Must Have Books of 2016

 

 

Alright these aren't even half of my list, but here are a few of the books that I'm dying to get my hands on for 2016.  Honestly, If I kept going with the rest of my list, this post would be huge.  Not sure if I could actually pick one that I'm the most excited about either.  I'm super excited about Truthwitch though, so maybe that might be the one or Ever the Hunted, but it doesn't come out till December.  Anyway, here is some of my 2016 books that I can't wait to read.  What books are your must have books for 2016?

2016 Blogger New Year's Challenge: Day 3

For those of you that don't know this amazing challenge that I participated in last year is hosted by the amazing and wonderfully talented Parajunkee.  I'm excited to participate again this year and honestly I hope it kicks this year off with some great blogging habits.  I really feel like I failed last year and had the biggest reading and blogging slump I've ever had.  So I'm hoping to change that this year. 

If you would like to participate, more information can be found here!  

Day 3. The negative things in blogging 2015 to avoid in 2016.

 

 

Well the biggest thing I want to avoid this year is burn out.  I think that's what honestly happened this past year, I was burnt out on blogging and reading, so much so that it made me hate getting on here to post anything.  Then when I did, it felt like the only things I was posting were the daily meme posts and after awhile that gets a bit old.  

 

So the plan this year is to add more discussion posts and book lists.  Also want to make sure I'm reviewing the books, I have a tendency to read them and then not review.  I am going to say this now though, I'm not going to review every book I read this year, that puts a lot of pressure on me and I'm thinking it takes the fun out of what I do here on the blog.  That's the whole point, I guess, that I'm trying to make.  I want to bring the fun back into this blog and make it where I love posting and sharing things with my readers again.  

 

 

 

 

So what about you, what are the things you're going to avoid this year? Even if it's not blog related, but maybe book related, leave me a comment below I would love to know. 

 

 

2016 Blogger New Year's Challenge: Day 2

For those of you that don't know this amazing challenge that I participated in last year is hosted by the amazing and wonderfully talented Parajunkee.  I'm excited to participate again this year and honestly I hope it kicks this year off with some great blogging habits.  I really feel like I failed last year and had the biggest reading and blogging slump I've ever had.  So I'm hoping to change that this year. 

If you would like to participate, more information can be found here!  

Day 2. Great things in blogging 2015.

 

 

So a few great things happened in 2015 for me where blogging/reading is concerned.  I was able to meet some fantastic authors, blogging friends and publishing industry friends throughout the year.  I also read some fantastic books and bought a bunch of the years hot releases that I couldn't put down.  That's always a plus and my favorite part about blogging and reading what I do here on Ali's Bookshelf, I get to dive into some fantastic worlds head first and live there until I turn and read the very last page of the book.  

 

I can't wait to see what 2016 has in store for me as a reader and as a blogger.  I'm also getting married this year so I'm super excited! 

 

 

 

 

What about you, what was one thing that happened to you this year that you would love to share.  I really enjoy hearing your stories.  Leave a comment below.  

 

 

2016 Blogger New Years Challenge: Day 1

For those of you that don't know this amazing challenge that I participated in last year is hosted by the amazing and wonderfully talented Parajunkee.  I'm excited to participate again this year and honestly I hope it kicks this year off with some great blogging habits.  I really feel like I failed last year and had the biggest reading and blogging slump I've ever had.  So I'm hoping to change that this year. 

If you would like to participate, more information can be found here!  

Day 1: Your blogger resolutions.

This year mine are pretty simple, below is my list.  I'm going to hopefully be able to cross some of them off my list soon.  

1. Cross some items off my bucket list. 

2. Blog more regularly.  I want to be more on a schedule, I used to blog this way and ended up getting a lot more posts posted.  So that's what I want to get back to this year. 

3. Read More of what I Want to read!  (Not what everyone else thinks I should be reading.) 

4. Cut my TBR List down as far as I can.  I have challenged myself to read at least 45 of my tbr 

books by the end of the year.  These are books that have been in the pile for awhile and or on my 

shelf for awhile.  (Some of them are from 2015, but not many of them) 

5. Be more active on my Facebook page and other social media.  I feel like I've dropped the ball on all areas of Social media this year and that saddens me.  

6. I want to work on Scheduling posts, again I used to do this and haven't lately. 

7. Want to post more giveaways!!  

8. Want to focus more on the authors themselves this year.  

I'm going to leave it at 8 for now.  I might add more to this list later as I start checking items off the list.   

So there you have it, my 8 blogger resolutions for this year! If you're a blogger or even if you aren't, what are your blogging/reading goals this year? I would love to hear your thoughts and or goals.  

Happy New Year everyone and as always....