Where I started

I wanted to take a thoughtful approach to reading for 2025, using past data to inform me (you can see graphs of my reading data from 2024 here). Here’s the plan I came up with:

Set clear, achievable goals
24 books - or 2 books a month across formats (paper, audio, or ebook) - with an emphasis on novels and fiction - and more diverse authors.
Create a reading plan.
Monthly goal of 2 books, reducing social media and reality TV consumption, and continuing to track on Story Graph.
Curate a reading list.
Instead of just tracking past reads, I’ll build a ready-to-grab reading list on there as well.
Make reading a habit.
I will carry reading material with me, and if I find I’m slacking, I’ll use timers to add in and monitor 20 minute chunks of time to build the habit.
Track and celebrate achievements.
Continue tracking in Story Graph and sharing my progress on my socials!

Where I’ve been in 2025.

Enjoy the beautiful StoryGraph visuals (a wonderful, free, Amazon-free app, owned by a Black woman - yes please!). Take a peek at my tracking data. Keep scrolling for my report card/takeaways.

My overall takeaways

Wins

I exceeded my goal of reading 24 books (26!), with 16 (62%) of them being fiction and many from diverse-authors (depending on how you define this, but in this case, gender and ethnic diversity).
I tracked on StoryGraph and got great satisfaction from entering a new book title when I finished reading.
I borrowed 100% of my reading material from local libraries or friends - and bought ZERO from Amazon.

Losses

I did not reduce my social media and reality TV consumption. In the current political climate, I felt these were tools in organizing resistance and preserving my sanity, respectively.
In fact, you can see how my reading habits started SO strong in January, but by end of summer, I petered out altogether. Almost no reading since fall craziness of sports parenting. It’s the season of life I’m in, so I won’t be too hard on myself.

Draws

I did carry reading material with me a good bit of the time, but having it handy wasn’t quite enough to break or boost habits.
And I did an OK job of developing a “to read” pile in the app. Still have lots of screenshots on my phone, too. #Whoops

How about you?

Whatever your goal, know that I am cheering you on and would love to hear about your progress, and if need be, support you in accomplishing them. Book a free 15 minute consultation and let’s discuss what is on your mind.

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My 2025 reading scorecard