2026 New Goals

Posted byauthorlaurablogPosted inUncategorizedTags:, , , , , ,

In January, 2024 I committed to participating in Haiku Saturday sharing my own photography and penning a new micro-poem, usually following the 5/7/5 format each week. I followed through on that commitment 100 times which feels like an accomplishment. At the time, there was still a thriving writing community on Twitter and #HaikuSaturday was part of it. The bird went away in May, 2024, even though the name had been changed earlier to X. Many of us had already migrated over to Bluesky and there are nice writing people there and #HaikuSaturday lives there now.

My 2025 Goodreads

Like many of my friends, I’ve recently shared my “Year in Books” from Goodreads on my social media and this only included the books I chose to rate and review on Goodreads even though I read many more picture books and a few other books that I chose not to shelve read or review for various reasons. After discussions with a few book friends, I’ve decided for 2026, I’m going to record all reading on my Goodreads account except DNF (if I start but don’t finish a book) that’s not going to factor in. I may write about that in a separate post. This will include marking books read, trying to rate (stars) and review (writing at least a sentence or two, usually much more) about the book. Last year, my goal was 75 books and I’ve set my 2026 goal at 150 books. This may sound high but the fact I read several picture books each week makes it manageable, and there’s no reason not to focus my Goodreads efforts there since that’s where my writing life is also focused. I’ll be sharing more about picture books here in 2026.

I am currently working to read as many picture books as I can from the “end of year” lists, books that may end up winning awards on January 27th from the American Library Association, and I am thrilled that my local library is supporting me in this endeavor.

This message updates at the bottom of may library receipt each time I checkout.

What are you reading?

Published by authorlaurablog

I'm a reading specialist and award winning educator from Chicago. While living in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado for nine years, I spent time hiking on the trails with my Goldendoodle Charlie and friends, writing, working in a literacy program at the Boulder Public Library, and mentoring writers and teachers. I love visiting schools. My books combine STEM and Kindness. "Aliana Reaches for the Moon" a picture book that draws inspiration from the moon and the curiosity of children, inviting children to be creative, explore, and experiment. "An Accidental Hero: A Mostly True Wombat Story" a picture book told in the form of a newscast which skillfully balances the serious subject of forest fires with compassion and humor to help children navigate this important topic through the real events of 2020. I moved to Northern New Jersey in 2025 and am working on new projects.

21 thoughts on “2026 New Goals”

    1. Thank you, Liz! I had decided to change things for 2026 but needed time to commit publicly. I think 150 will be ‘easy’ to achieve if I keep up the current pace of reading. I just need to remember to go to Goodreads after I’m done reading. 😉
      Happy New Year!

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  6. That’s a great goal! I stopped using Goodreads to note my books because I’m trying to boycott Amazon and all its subsidiaries. I tried out StoryGraph which is run by a Black Woman and works nicely, but I’ve gone back to a little handwritten notebook instead.

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    1. Thanks, Teresa! I tried to switch to StoryGraph a year or two ago when another author posted about it but the first book I searched for to record wasn’t listed. And the second book wasn’t listed either. So I decided to stay with Goodreads. I understand your reasons and applaud your handwritten notebook. Whatever works for people, I’m not judging. As you know, authors want Goodreads & Amazon reviews so I feel like that’s another reason I’ve stayed.

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  7. Dear Laura
    It’s quite moderate to set your aim of 150 books to read this year. It is wise to set yourself achievable goals. We published our list of books we read on our blog just a couple of days ago.
    Wishing you a happy and healthy 2026
    The Fab Four of Cley
    🙂 🙂 🙂

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    1. I just read your book post and for reasons I cannot understand, WordPress/Jetpack is not allowing me to interact. The app is asking me to sign in again.
      I’ll respond here first and go back there later. The reason I think my goal of 150 is achievable is because I am including picture books. I write picture books and read many new ones each week, often three or four in one sitting. I’ll only be reviewing the ones I enjoy. Thanks for stopping by and wishes for a happy healthy new year!

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    1. Marcia, I know you read a lot of picture books and other books as well! It’s been fun to track my reading on Goodreads and as I told someone I saw earlier today, if I don’t like a book, I don’t review it.

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      1. I just checked mine and it’s way off! It only showed me having read 6 books and as you know with picture books, that could be all in a week or a day. Their only recommendation was for me to mark my books as ‘read’ which was already done back when I read them. Oh well, happy reading!

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