One of biggest goals for the year was to be organized with my reading/reviewing/blogging. And one of my biggest problems was taking on too much at once. So, I’ve been very intentional about taking on less ARCs (it’s still tough for me because it’s hard to resist that damn request button sometimes).
But compared to where I was last year during this time, I’m doing a lot better and I’m finding more time to read leisurely. And that, my friends, is one of the best feelings ever in the reading world. I just have a better hold on how I’m able to track everything and it’s not as overwhelming, anymore.
There’s quite a few things that I use to help me keep track of upcoming reads that I’ve committed to. And they are:
- Google Tasks
- Nose Graze Book Database
google tasks
This has honestly been a huge lifesaver to track books that I’ve signed up with through PR companies. It’s in the sidebar of my Gmail, so I’m constantly referring back to and it’s so easy to add tasks or books, in my case. And with each task, you can add dates, which are usually the review dates I signed up for.
If you’re a Gmail user and love that you can stay in one tab, I recommend adding Tasks to your blog/work flow.
nose graze book database
Originally, I was kind of on the fence about how much I’d be able to use this, but I’ve been forcing myself to use it more since I paid for it. The past couple of months, I’ve made it very intentional to use it as often as I can. About once a week, I’ll take a look at the books that I’m planning to read and review, mainly ARCs and I add them into the book database. Which links to my WordPress. The book database is basically used for logging books. It does seem like a lot of work, but once I’ve made it part of my routine, I’ve definitely enjoyed the process.
Here’s my work flow with Book Database:
- I’ve added bookmarks to my browser bar where it takes me to the page where I can add a new book
- I have Goodreads/Netgalley/Edelweiss open to make it easier to grab the book information and book cover image
- Usually I have some music playing as I’m going through this process and it’s quickly become a calming thing for me to do about once every other week or so. Sometimes once a month.
One of my favorite things about Book Database is that I’m able to share my books as a release calendar. Check it out, here. But I’ll be honest, that calendar is more for me and the books I read. I haven’t added ALL books, maybe someday I’ll try to add more. But for now, it’s just books that I’m interested in.
These two things have helped me immensely on staying on track. This past month, I’ve had to reach out to PRs to remove myself from review tours. May has been such a roller coaster with my reading and it all became too much.
The calendar view has been the most helpful since I have a glance of what my month will look like. Overall, it has been less stress once I’ve adapted to this process.
I’ll try to do do more blog posts talking about my blog flow since I’ve definitely had to re-adjust how I do everything.
x x Are there certain things you do to keep you more organized?
