New Year Reading Resolutions

When I wrote my Happy New Year post yesterday I had intended to include my 2013 reading and book-related resolutions. I'm not generally someone who makes New Year resolutions, as I prefer to believe that if I want to do something or make changes in my life then I can do this at any time of the year, and shouldn't put things off to the beginning of a new year. However, this year I have decided that there are some things I want to get done as far as reading and this blog is concerned, and if I don't make them public then I possibly won't stick to them. And so, in no particular order:

1. This year I want to re-read my original 1970s/1980s copies of Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators books (well, the ones that I read as a kid, first published in the 1970s, which is books 1-30). These were my favourite books as a 9+ year old and I recently re-read The Secret of Terror Castle, and my love for the series has not diminished with age, and it is far too long since I read them. I may even try to track down #31-43 which I have never read.
2. I want to read more adult books this year. As I have mentioned before, last year I came to a point where blogging started to feel like a chore. I got myself out of this funk by using the school summer holidays to catch up on a lot of the adult books that I had bought but had sat lonely and unread on my shelves. This year I want to avoid the 'chore' feeling again, and so I will make sure that at least one book in four that I read will be adult, and probably won't be reviewed. There are some pretty amazing adult books due out this year that I am very excited about. One of them, The Hunters by Chris Kuzneski, arrived in the post this morning, but I am also really looking forward to reading the new books from Neil Gaiman and Joe Hill that are scheduled for release later in 2013.
3. I want to read more adult science fiction this year. I loved Jack Glass by Adam Roberts, and have recently been reading classics like Do Androids Dream of Electric Sleep and Minority Report for the first time. And I want more!
4. I will try to review more of the books that I read. Last year there were far too many that got read but, due to work pressures, never got reviewed on my blog. Everyone one of them received a starred review on Goodreads, but I have higher expectations of myself, and my report for last year read "Can do better"!
5. Last year I bought a large number of graphic novels - some of them new, some of them were great finds in charity shops or car boot sales - but far too many of them have still not been read. Although I intend to continue buying them, I won't be buying anywhere near as many, and instead will be focusing on reading the ones that are already in my collection.
6. And finally, saving the most important one until last, I want to get a shift on with my own writing. this is not something I have mentioned on here before, and only a very small number of people know that I have been doing some writing of my own. I successfully took part in NaNoWriMo back in 2011, but have not added a great deal to the 50,000+ words I wrote back then. I also have a pile of notebooks containing various ideas and the beginnings of plot outlines, and 2013 is the year I will stop making 'work pressures' excuses and do something about it. Yes, the ideas are for children's and YA books - how could I write for anyone else? My only worry is that this blog might suffer.

And there you have it - come back in twelve months time to see how successful I have been.