So I asked around on Twitter if anyone would be interested in seeing a post on my Reading Bullet Journal and I was very surprised by the response! Everyone wanted to know about my spreads and what all I had in mine so I'm going to share my set up and how it's gone so far in 2019!
FIRST THINGS FIRST:
I CANNOT DRAW!
So if you're looking for some journal spreads with all the cute headers and things like that, sorry but that's not my journal. On the other side of that, if that's what you're worried about when creating your own, don't let that stop you. All that matters is that you like it and you're having fun while doing it.
INTRO:
So, a little background... I used to have a lifestyle bullet journal, but when Hurricane Harvey happened, it was in my car, which as most of you know, got flooded. So, I lost all that work I had done. (From January-August) I was devestated. That thing took a lot of work. So, I just gave it up. But I still wanted to do something like it, so I started looking around and I noticed that there were "reading journals." I began looking at other spreads, and the next year (2018) I started my own. This year is the first time I will have one the full year so I'm excited!
NOW...
BEFORE THE YEAR STARTED!
So, the first thing I put in my reading bullet journal is all the things I need for throughout the entire year. (That first pic is just my title page lol) The first one actually in my journal is the list of 175 books I read this year. I put 175 because that's my Goodreads Challenge. I did not do the bookshelf thing because I can't draw, and also trying to fit 175 books onto a bookshelf will make it like my real life one... Messy. So I decided against it. They look so pretty, but I think it's more cleaner and more neater to just list them. Then I have my A-Z challenge and the Contemporary Romance Challenge. I had a bit of room on that page so I just added some cut-outs of some contemp romance books I am really excited for that are coming out soon.
The next one is my Pop-Sugar Reading Challenge, the Highlights or 5 Star reads of 2019, the Low lights or DNFs of 2019, and the state and world map for tracking the places my reading takes me throughout 2019.
After that, I slide into my monthly spreads. These will be the same every month mostly. I have a list with my most anticipated. (Again I used print outs) I have a spot for my diverse reads, a spot for quotes I want to remember, and a spot for my TBR Bingo. The squares on my Bingo board are books that I plan to read this month.
After that, I placed my stats (the title, the format, and the rating, etc), any cool bookish things that happened to me in that month (author signings, Work stuff, etc), a Mood Tracker, and a habit tracker. My husband told me to explan why I added a Mood Tracker and habit Tracker to this when I don't use this as a lifestyle planner, so here goes. If you don't know, I'm a mood reader. If I don't feel like reading that certain genre, I will DNF with a quickness. I'm trying to get better about just reading what my mood says instead of DNFing so much, so I've been tracking my reading tastes. For my habit tracker, I've been looking at simple things like "Did I instagram today?""Did I finish or start a book?" etc. The spreads will vary by the month it is. For January I went with a coffee theme. And again, I can't draw. I totes found the spread on Pinterest and then copied it to the best of my ability. It doesn't look the best, but its ok for me lol
(I totes tried to make this short smh But if you know me in real life, you know I talk too much all the time anyways lol)
NOW THAT THE YEAR HAS STARTED!:
This is after the pen! Well marker. So far. Since the month isn't quite over, I haven't put EVERYTHING from January in there. Maybe I might share them more on Instagram once everything is done!
( I added the titles to the DNF gravestones, but added the stickers via computer to hide them!)
This last one is a new page that I added. After sitting down one afternoon and doing SIX MONTHS WORTH OF CROSS POSTING (for shame smh) I knew I needed to do something to track my cross posting. I also saw that my TBR on Netgalley and Edelweiss were getting out of control, so I went ahead and made a spread for it. I will use this to hold me accountable for getting those reviews done and posted. It will also hold me accountable for making sure I visited and commented on other blogs. It's SO EASY to just schedule a post and not go around to others. I completely missed one of my best friends do a blog post about her bullet journal and had to go back and look! (For shame again smh lol)
Are you thinking of starting a bullet journal?
Do you already have one?
Do we have some of the same spreads?
Tell me in the comments!