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Blog Goals: 2017

blog-goals

As we enter 2017, I was thinking about what I want to do with my blog this year. Below I have outlined some goals and some challenges I will be doing this year! Check out the challenges page!


Diversity Bingo
I will be participating in Diversity Bingo for 2017. The goal is to read a book that satisfies each space on the bingo board with the goal of covering all the spaces before the end of the year! By looking at the different categories, I can already see how this simple yet genius tool will help keep me accountable to read diversely across all identities (and in the intersections). I am not doing this challenge to win something or to show folks how many diverse books I am reading. I want to be clear that reading diverse stories is not a fad. I also want to stress that I do not want to police diversity by saying what books count, what books are authentic and what books do not count. I will continue to be in conversation with my communities around these issues. I am doing diversity bingo because I believe that all of these stories and experiences need to be told, because they are valid and authentic and wonderful. And I want to share the stories and the amazing authors with you! I will continue to update my board on the challenges page on my site.

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Out of the Dust Challenge
I have a lot of books in my library that I have acquired over the yeas mostly through library and used book sales (those fill a bag for $3 sales). And I have noticed I read only a small amount of books from my own personal collection each year. I get swept up in new releases from the library or find a good deal on an e-book and neglect my growing physical book collection. My challenge this year is to read at least 20 books from my physical collection and I will try to keep you all update with [Out of the Dust] posts.

Goodreads Reading Challenge
In 2016, I created a manageable challenge of reading 45 books. With more attention to blogging, I actually started reading more! I will set my Goodreads Reading Challenge goal at 70 books for 2017 with the expectation I will surpass it. I will link with a widget from my challenges page on my blog.

100×1 New to Me Challenge
Along with this challenge, I will be doing another challenge – a variation of the 100×1 challenge (play 100 different games at least once in a year). This has proven too easy for me. With the amount of games in my gaming groups, I can easily complete this challenge in half a year. The challenge I will be doing for 2017 is the 100×1 “New to Me” challenge. This means I will attempt to play 100 different games at least once that I have never played before. A much harder challenge for me, because I do not have the finances to simply buy new games. I must go out to conventions and game groups, meet people, and learn games in community. I will be tracking all of it on Board Game Geek in a Geek List that I will post on my challenges page.

Diversity & Board Games
I have wanted to do some sort of board game challenge so that I could play games and highlight board games designed by diverse designers -> POC, LGBTQ+, differently abled, women, and non-Christian religions/spiritualities. I am still working on a system to organize this challenge/goal and I am hoping to collaborate with others in the board gaming community. I will update with a post when I create something solid. In addition, I want highlight games in game reviews by diverse designers AND/OR games that have authentic diverse representation in the artwork and theme.

200+ followers
This year, I went from 10 blog followers to over 90 blog followers! I was very shocked that many people wanted to follow and read my blog. I am looking to expand even further into the community (both board games and books) by collaborating, interacting, and meeting new people. This is a goal I will not be disappointed if I do not reach it, I just want to see growth in my blogging community.

New Posts
At the Table (what I’ve been playing)
This post type has been in the back of my mind for a while now to discuss games I have been playing recently or games that have been played a lot recently. I find this topic interesting, not only to discuss different games, but to discuss why certain games (old or new) start getting to the table more often. I plan to do this every couple of months!

Board Game Reviews
I have been focusing mostly on book reviews and not so much on board game reviews. I want to get back into this and I started at the end of 2016 with a review of Oceanos. When I first started blogging, I had a very structured way of reviewing games (components, mechanics, fun, etc.) and I found I did not like that restrictive format. So I stopped altogether writing reviews. With Oceanos, I tried to take a similar approach to how I review books and I enjoy that process much more. Be on the lookout for more board game reviews as well as a continuation of my [Including New Meeples] series.

Personal Experiences
I think personal narratives are very powerful and can really add to a blog. I have read a handful of blogs that interweave their personal experiences posts very well. I used to do personal posts when I first started my blog and I want to revisit that style of posting. I believe we cannot be successful in inclusion and social justice work without relationships. And relationships require giving a little bit of myself to others.

Other Suggestions?
I am open to any other suggestions you all have about what posts you would like to see!

Discussion

17 thoughts on “Blog Goals: 2017

  1. I believe personal posts are something more bloggers should do. It lets us, the reader, learn more about the person behind the blog. So, I say that to let you know that I will read anything you decide to post.

    Liked by 1 person

    Posted by kncwrites | January 4, 2017, 11:55 AM
  2. This is an ambitious list of goals! I love that you are doing Diversity Bingo. It intimidates me, honestly. I don’t like to plan my reading that much. I also love how you plan on completing your 100X1 New to Me challenge. This sounds similar to my goal of improving face-to-face dialogues. I wish you luck!

    I am looking forward to seeing all of your new features in the new year. Particularly your personal experiences. I love reading them when they tie back to the blog theme. With your experiences in the academic world I’m certain you’ll have fascinating things to share.

    Liked by 1 person

    Posted by Jackie B @ Death by Tsundoku | January 4, 2017, 1:37 PM
    • Diversity Bingo is a bit intimidating for me in terms of number of books, but it really excited me to see the different squares and the vast diversity of representation. I may not complete it all but I look forward to discovering new books and new authors.

      Thank you or the well-wishes! I hope I can make my blog a bit more dynamic with my different post ideas. Cheers and Happy New Year!

      Liked by 1 person

      Posted by Brendon | January 6, 2017, 10:49 AM
  3. I think board game reviews would be fantastic… I’d enjoy seeing them on my feed 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Posted by chloedouglas28 | January 4, 2017, 2:31 PM
  4. Good luck! I am also planning to try to read more of my own books this year.

    Liked by 1 person

    Posted by Shay Shortt | January 4, 2017, 8:59 PM
  5. Good luck w your goals!

    Liked by 1 person

    Posted by Sharlene | January 5, 2017, 9:36 AM
  6. Happy New Year! I enjoy reading personal posts on book (or other topic) blogs. It gives me an idea of the personality behind the blog and helps me understand the blogger’s perspective. Good luck with your goals this year. I look forward to reading your posts.

    Liked by 1 person

    Posted by A.M.B. | January 5, 2017, 10:12 AM
  7. I’m glad to see your blog grow! 🙂 I’m sure you will easily reach 200 followers and hopefully many more! Gotta say I’m pretty excited to do Diversity Bingo. I will make as many of them intersectional reads as possible, but it will be a great way to read beyond my regular reading habits, which is great! I’m grateful I got to know you and your blog in 2016. Here’s to a great 2017 blogging year!

    Like

    Posted by Read Diverse Books | January 6, 2017, 6:48 PM
  8. Terrific list of challenges. I really need to pay more attention to the physical books I own as well. It’s not one of my stated goals but one in the back of my mind this year. Good luck!

    Like

    Posted by Laila@BigReadingLife | January 7, 2017, 10:05 PM
  9. So many great challenges! Good luck with your goals! Looking forward to your personal stories very much! I’m still weary of putting myself out there but habe gotten better last year, anyway kudos to you, “the Personal ist political!”✊
    I also want to do diversity bingo but in a laidback way, I wanna see if I fill squares in my usual reading and later fill in the blanks. If it doesn’t work I know I need to do way better about intersectional reading in the second half of the year.
    You and your blog are awesome if course people want to follow you!😊

    Like

    Posted by Bina | January 9, 2017, 6:31 AM
  10. I can’t wait to see what you read for Diversity Bingo!

    You shouldn’t doubt yourself – you have such a high quality blog, and you are such a lovely person! There is no reason why you shouldn’t hit 200 and above! Not that hits are the be all and end all, but it is nice to check them at times 🙂

    Are you planning on doing another themed month?

    Like

    Posted by whatthelog | January 10, 2017, 6:06 PM
  11. Good luck with your challenges & all the best! XD

    Like

    Posted by Cee Arr | January 17, 2017, 9:33 AM

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