How has your week been? What have you been reading lately?
What I’m Reading
I finished 2 books for the 2 reading challenges we host (the Key Word and Motif Reading Challenge) – The Locked Door, Freida McFadden (Key Word: Door) and The Midnight Bargain, C.L. Polk (Jan Motif – a book with a clock on the cover). I enjoyed them both – The Locked Door felt a bit formulaic, but it’s a fast paced interesting story. The Midnight Door is a historical fantasy in which our main character longs to become a magical Mage, but this is an honor reserved only for men, and a collar is put on women when they get married so they can no longer practice magic. Loved the premise and the author executed it well.
I’m currently reading one of the unread books that I own – Luster, Raven Leilani. I’m planning on taking this book with me when I go on vacation in a few days … unless I’m finished by then.
Reading Journals
Are you keeping a reading journal? I am always so inspired to see beautifully kept reading journals. Check out this 2025 reading journal flip through. I don’t keep a dedicated reading journal, but I’ve started to add what I’ve read to the bottom of my weekly spread in my Hobonichi Weeks planner.
I’m also keeping another planner – or what I call my DONE book. It’s a mashup of a junk journal / memory keeping journal. I’m keeping a few bookish spreads in that as well – a list of the books I read in the year, 5 star reads (covers of the books), and short thoughts on each book I read.
Word of the Year
Do you have a word or theme for your year? Sometimes I do it, and sometimes I don’t. After reading My Word for 2026 (And Why It Surprised Me), I thought about what I wanted out of this year. I had a big goal last year to get back into running, and I did it! This year, I have 1 big goal – learn Spanish. I know I need consistent near daily practice, and looking at my daily habits, I also need to minimize distractions. Stop the hours of endless scrolling and FOCUS more. So my word for the year is FOCUS. It not only applies to not spending so much time scrolling on my phone, but it also applies to not spending time doing other things that may be taking time away from my journey to achieving my goal. I also have a few other smaller goals so FOCUS is really applicable to multiple parts of my life.
What Worked Last Year
I loved reading What worked for Modern Mrs Darcy in 2025. A few things that worked for me … junk journaling as a form of memory keeping (I tried several different things before landing on what worked for me), signing up for races 1-2 almost every month as a way of motivation, lifting weights 2-3x per week and my Orgain plant protein shake subscription. I might do a full post on other things that worked for me.
What worked for you last year?
