Hi friends! I’m back with a wrap-up post for 2023. It was a weird year, and I read far fewer books than any previous year. (If I could get Storygraph to load, I would tell you!)
I finished 44 books in 2023; 31 were nonfiction, which is no big surprise. (The key word is finished; I read hundreds of pages of books that I haven’t finished yet!) I gave 35 books 4 or 5 stars, which means some really excellent reads. However, I spent most of the year pushing out content, which seriously cut into my reading time. I spent so much time planning posts and making lists about which books were coming out that it didn’t leave a lot of time for actually reading them. Oops.
Have you heard of the Rose, Bud, and Thorn exercise? The rose is something good that happened; the bud is something that I’m looking forward to; and the thorn is something that didn’t go well. I thought it would be a good way to look back at the year. Let’s get into it!
Rose
The things that I’m most proud of are: hosting a Bookstakindness Challenge; being an Indie Bookstore Day ambassador; and publishing a Summer Reading Guide. I also joined a 30-day self-care challenge #showupforyourself during Mental Health Awareness Month.
In July, I celebrated 6 Years on Bookstagram, hosted a We Love Memoirs Day giveaway in August, and in October, I finally, FINALLY reached 10,000 followers on Instagram. (Of course, I got my first bookish tattoo as my “reward”?) For Nonfiction November, I started a new “nonfiction book party” channel on Instagram, designed my own merchandise on Bonfire, and hosted a series of reading sprints. I hadn’t done this before and was pleasantly surprised by the participation and camaraderie! (We read some odd, niche nonfiction, let me tell you.)
I attended several author events and got to meet/listen to: Nicole Chung, Gregory Boyle, Ruha Benjamin, Anthony Chin-Quee, Susan Orlean, David Grann, Michelle Dowd, Angie Kim, Kate Flannery, Amanda Montell, Yung Pueblo, Eve Rodsky and Cheryl Strayed.
Bud
I’m working on my goals with a free workshop from Jon Acuff who wrote Soundtracks: The Surprising Solution to Overthinking
I’m looking forward to the monthly “Unplug & Create” meetup; we have the most signups ever for the January meetup!
I’m so excited for an online workshop with Cyndie Spiegel who wrote Microjoys: Finding Hope (Especially) When Life Is Not Okay.
I’m looking forward to Your Thrive Year: Transformative Conversations for a New 365, an in person event with Tara Schuster and several other new to me authors.
I’m planning a bookish retreat!
I’m hosting a relaxed Buddy Read of An Immense World, just a chapter a week.
Thorn
(Disclaimer: I am very proud of my accomplishments, but I have come to realize that a lot of it was serving as a distraction to keep my mind off other things.)
I published a weekly newsletter for 36 weeks over on Substack and, at the same time, created corresponding lists every week on Instagram. I am extremely proud of myself for consistently posting, building up my subscriber list, and highlighting a wide variety of nonfiction.You can see all my substack posts here.
At the beginning of the year, I started an online nonfiction book club and was very excited about it. We had a ton of signups, but unfortunately, there was next to zero participation. (I blame the app; it wasn’t very user-friendly.) However, I am so grateful to the people who jumped on a new platform and joined our Zoom calls. Kudos to the two people who completed all twelve prompts. Your dedication is inspiring!
At the same time, I began publishing a monthly events newsletter that highlighted author events, book signings, and festivals happening all over Southern California. I’m still sharing events here, but I’ve scaled back on producing a fancy, multi-page newsletter.
Conclusion
So that was 2023. On a personal note, I got bangs, a new car, a new tattoo, saw Depeche Mode in concert, and turned 50. How was your year?! What are you looking forward to in the new year?
Want to see some really old posts? I hadn’t done a wrap-up post in a while, but I did a deep dive into the archives and found this one I wrote one about 2020, which was very entertaining. (Hint: I was still reading mostly fiction!) Here are my favorites in 2018 and 2019. In fact I did a whole month of favorites! I especially love this post where I listed all my “new” book friends.
My name is Jaymi “the OC Book Girl”. I’m a California native who reads mostly nonfiction these days. I’m a Little Free Library steward, a library lover, and an independent bookstore advocate. I believe in kindness and compassion, always.
Did you know? You can support this blog by commenting, sharing it with fellow book enthusiasts, buying books from my online bookstore, or by buying me a coffee.
Thank you for being a part of my bookish journey. Until the next chapter, happy reading!
The OC Book Girl 