There’s a Top Nine app that’s popular on Instagram. The app will identify the nine most “liked” photos on your feed for the year. I ran it, but many that were chosen were not my favorites. Cathy Zielske created a grid for anyone who wanted to create their own, so I used her grid to identify my favorite cards of the year. No surprise to me that many of them involve hot foil plates or die cutting!
Yesterday, I set up my book journal for 2023, and looked over the stats from 2022. I met the goal I set at Goodreads plus 2.
It was an interesting mix of reading. Almost 3/4 of them were written by female authors. The 62 books were divided almost evenly between fiction and non-fiction, and my favorite ten books for the year divided evenly between fiction and nonfiction as well. Fifty-three of them were print books; the rest were evenly divided between audible and Kindle versions. I owned about half of the books I read, and the others were evenly divided between books borrowed from my daughter and books borrowed from the library. What surprised me the most was the amount of fiction I read. In 2021, I read almost twice as much non-fiction as fiction. And most of the fiction this year was contemporary or speculative fiction.
So here are my ten favorite books from 2022. They are ones I’ve thought about long after I finished reading them and/or just thoroughly enjoyed.
I’ve downsized my reading goal for 2023 to 52–one a week. I may do better than that, but one thing I learned this year is that it’s hard to meet a goal that requires more than four books a month when we’re traveling. And traveling is something we hope to continue to do this year.
I gave serious thought to not choosing a One Little Word this year–something I’ve done annually since 2011. But in the end, I’m taking a cue from Mary-Lou of Patio Postcards who chose her words quarterly last year. The last several years, choosing One Little Word helped me focus my energies and intentions for the first part of the year, but by summer I was rarely paying any attention at all to it. In November last year I revived my word (Balance) so I ended the year a bit more focused than I had been since August. Once again, traveling always throws me off!
For the first quarter, I’ve chosen Gratitude. I spent the month of November working through photography prompts for Picture Plenty, and started a gratitude journal again. I’d like to establish a habit of paying attention to the small blessings of each day and writing them down. Last year, I finally established a routine of doing spiritual reading/prayer each morning, and I’d like to have an evening routine for recording gratitude.
I’m also setting intentions for each month instead of for the year. For months when we’ll be traveling, I can set some limited goals. And honestly, there are projects I’ve been trying to complete for several years, and I keep pushing them off to the side. If I work on them month by month perhaps they’ll get completed. Under each of four categories—Crafting, Reading, Photography, and Home, I’ve listed one-four things I’d like to accomplish in January. (I’m not ignoring Wellness, but our gym routine and healthy eating patterns are pretty well established so I don’t think I need any particular focus there.) The January plan may be too ambitious, but by evaluating my intentions monthly, I’m hoping all my projects will stay on my radar and get completed by the end of the year!
Sending warm good wishes for the New Year and your word, Karen! And for success in completing your projects – the unfinished can be such a drag on our energy … That is a splendid book reading total, and I’ve taken note of some of your titles – thank-you! How interesting that your own choice of cards is not the ‘popular vote’ one; I especially like the middle one in the bottom row. Looking forward to seeing more of your skill in 2023!
Great recap. I am glad you picked your favourites, I would not have been able to pick a favourite all year – you make the most amazing cards. Of the books you read, the one that stood out for me in 2022 was The Measure & not because it was a great literary work, but because it was the book that had me thinking the most after reading. So thank you for that referral.
While I said I wasn’t picking a OLW for 2023, it has been jiggingly at me & I’ve been giving a rethink to it. I liked my 2022 approach of quarterly works & quarterly goals. So good luck with this approach. I like your first word of Gratitude, it sets the stage for the rest of the year.
And I’m also another one that has far too many unfinished projects that nag at me as the silent to do’s. I have lots of hope that you & I will report on many many complted projects in 2023!
Happy New Year. You had quite the crafting and reading year, and you’ve excelled at both. I actually don’t recognize any of your favorite cards, so I guess your faves may not be my fave. 😉
I should check on my Goodreads goal, I know I read it, but my page count won’t be so high as most of it was audiobooks, and I am not sure how they count those.
Good luck with your OLW/quarter.
Comments are closed.