Okay, I just checked and I haven’t done one of these posts since 2019! Five whole years. That’s crazy (although the correlation with my son being born doesn’t escape me). But I thought it might be nice to put some goals for reading and writing in 2024 down here, if only so I can look back at them in another five years time.
I’ll give you a quick recap of how 2023 went for me, and then we’ll get on to the fun stuff!
I read the grand sum of 16 books in 2023. Even for me (a very slow reader) that’s quite low, I usually listen to a fair number of audio books, which means I can get through at least a couple of books a month, but at the beginning of 2023 I changed jobs and my commute was cut down to just about ten minutes each way. That, combined with the fact my son is now fully aware of what I’m listening to while driving, cooking and cleaning, has made it difficult to get through many listens in the last 12 months. As a result, I only got through 4 audiobooks last year. However, my darling husband bought me some wireless ear buds for Christmas, so I’m hoping to be able to listen much more in 2024, whether it’s SJM while making dinner or Fourth Wing while folding laundry.
In 2023, I read 5 thrillers, one non-fiction and ten fantasy novels. I also beta read a few books and short stories, all fantasy.
I wrote roughly 60k words in 2023 – 10k for The Wyvern and the Woodwitch, my story in Enchanted Flames, and 50k for The Silver Prince, my book in the Once Upon a Prince series. Despite being a lower reading and writing year, 2023 has been my biggest year career-wise so far. The Silver Prince release went so mind-bogglingly well, it’s my biggest release so far by about 5 times. So, all in all last year was still an enormous success for me and a huge step in my publishing journey, and I’m so happy with everything I achieved.
That pretty much sums up my past twelve months. It’s been a really big year for work, family and self-care, but I’m planning for 2024 to have a stronger focus on books and publishing, so let’s see what I’m hoping to achieve…
I plan to read four books a month on average, with a blend of paperbacks, ebooks and audio books. I really need to start working through my physical TBR, so I won’t be borrowing any books from the library this year (I’ll always be a huge library fan and advocate though!).
I’ve started putting a spreadsheet together to track my reading a little more neatly than on Goodreads, with columns for my planned TBR, genre, format and the dates I read each book. I’ll keep a note of my ratings and some thoughts, and I’ll try to leave a quick review for each one, on Amazon and Goodreads.
I haven’t listed all 48 books yet, I’m a bit of a mood reader and want to leave a bit of wiggle room, but at the moment I’ve got YA thrillers, Adult thrillers, YA fantasy, Adult fantasy, MG and Non-fiction books on the list. My first read of the year is A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, and I’m really enjoying it, so I think I’ll read a few other YA thrillers at the beginning of the year, as well as finishing House of Sky and Breath before House of Flame and Shadow is released at the end of January.
I published one novel and one short story in an anthology in 2023, and my stretch goal is to double that. I’d love to write, edit and publish two novels, my short story for Enchanted Skies, and another short for my email subscribers. All in all, that might amount to roughly 160k words, but that’s just an estimate, I don’t have a specific word goal.
My planned WIPs include a sequel to The Silver Prince called The Golden Princess, giving Issy’s younger sister Livia her very own happy ending. That won’t release until the end of 2024, when TSP is out of its contract and I can rerelease them both together with new covers. My other novel length WIP is a historical fantasy for fans of Stalking Jack the Ripper that I’ve had in my mind for years now and can’t wait to write. I’d like to get that one out by the summer, but I also have When Skies Darken to draft and edit, and then I’d love to write something festive to release next Christmas just for my email subs. A short tie in story set in the world of The Fair Chronicles.
And those are my writing and publishing goals for the next twelve months. A quick note on the how, what and when – my aim is to write 500 words per day or spend some time either marketing my books or studying/learning every day. And I’ve also decided to read for 2 hours for every hour I spend watching tv or gaming. That should hopefully help me to get to my goals by next December!
What are you reading and/or writing goals for the next twelve months?
Happy new year book friends, I hope 2024 is filled with calm, joy, and lots of great books!
Lyndsey
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Lyndsey Hall | Author 