PLANS: A confession | Why do we make plans? 

Reader who loves to make plans and is really hard on herself, reporting for duty 🙋‍♀️ You are so spot on with this! I have gotten better about being flexible with my plans, but it is honestly still hard! I make yearly goals but they usually don’t go well 😂 and yet I look forward to making them every year. I can’t explain the logic! Jennifer had great plans ❤ I took inspiration from her bullet journal as well right before she passed. We miss her 💔 and Alice! Two beautiful souls. This video was a great tribute to them 💗

I miss Jennifer and Alice so much - there's a hole in my heart I feel often. When we have losses it's normal to reevaluate our lives and goals, and it takes time to do that. We should give ourselves the grace to grieve. I love lists - tbr, plants for my garden, hobbies to try, languages to learn - you get the idea. Lists allow me to enjoy wallowing in possibilities. They provide direction and help me make decisions, though they don't control them. And they serve as signposts along the way, helping me to see the progress I am making, though it may feel slow. I love to devise lists, but will happily change them if I think they're not working. Still, some of my best reading has come from lists, but I'll always be a mood reader and I've learned to respect that about myself and work with my reading moods, not against them.

I agree that there’s a distinct pleasure in making reading plans, the joy of anticipation, regardless of whether you carry through with them.

Great video Shelly! I was totally devastated by Jenny’s passing, too. She was one of the first book tubers I followed and one of my favs (if not my fav), and her passing had me questioning if I even liked reading/watching book tube if I didn’t have her content/reading life to follow along with. It definitely made me rethink my reading priorities and inspired me to take pressure off myself and slow things down. I still think about Jenny a lot, too, and miss her and her content so much 😞

i miss jennifer brooks as well 😢 her passing away was a complete shock and i don't even know if i could care so much for someone i don't even know personally

First of all, I'm very sorry for your losses. Connections online and the feelings that we have for people online are very real. And I understand what you mean about loosing people we care about bringing a sense of chaos and pointlessness. It's a void that just won't let itself be filled. In time, there will be other things surrounding that void and bringing a little more sense to life, but it's a really hard process to go through. (I'm not trying to explain it to you, just... I can relate.) Second, I think you should be really proud of three years of doing this. That is a great accomplishment and worth celebrating, no matter what else is happening. There can be joy alongside grief, one doesn't exist without the other. I absolutely agree with the sense of control. And that has also made me reflect on my monthly tbr, which I would never do without booktube, and the fact that they bring me stress rather than control. So I've recently decided to take control of that ^^ I like having a smaller pile of selected books, rather than having to choose one out of all the books every time. But I feel bad about picking new books every month, when I haven't finished all the ones I picked before, because then I've somehow failed, and also not read the books I wanted to read! Meaning I'm putting pressure on myself, AND missing the fun! No no no. So now I'm leaning more toward just finishing the five books I've picked, and then picking new ones, regardless of calendar date (which I always thought was weird anyway XD) I guess what I'm trying to say is that planning and executing can be a source of joy, but I feel like I hadn't adjusted my plans to my time properly, so they didn't work! So I'm adjusting my time, so that the execution and therefore the planning is more enjoyable. * ramble ramble * For me, * lemme ramble some more * I have never made reading plans before starting a booktube channel. But now, it's a social thing, letting other people know what I want to read and watching other people who share what they want to read, and if we have some alignment, we can find comfort in having someone to talk to about it later, and it makes it feel less lonely or isolating, as reading can otherwise be. Even if we don't talk about the book, there is comfort in knowing that your taste or interest is shared by someone else, and you get some connection and community and belonging from that as well. Or I do :) And I also find a lot of joy in the planning itself, or adding books to my to-read lists on goodreads. It's like a treasure hunt, collecting pretty covers and stories that feel like me. And then buying books is a whole nother level of that ^^ I feel rich and giddy doing all of that! Not because of how much money I spend (I'd rather not) but just the gathering of titles on the internet! :D It's the hope, isn't it? AND THAT WAS MY CHATTY RAMBLINGS ABOUT PLANS ^^ I should have just made a video haha

I make reading plans too, but I am always aware that those are wishes of the moment and not rules I have to follow. My plans help guide me so I can prioritize my reading better, but I allow myself to diverge from the plan when I feel like it. It is a shock to see friends die, even social media friends, and we may feel plans are meaningless at that time. I felt shocked at Jennifer and Alice's deaths as well. We all get reminders periodically that life is short so make the best of it as well as you can. Just today I found out a high school classmate died this week. My classmates and I are no longer young but we are much younger than the age the average person dies. Plans feel like a way to be in control and then something happens to show you that control is unachievable. I am rambling a bit myself, but I understand where you are coming from.

Fascinating video! I think I am more inclined to make plans and set myself reading projects now that I have a channel than I was before. For me at least it’s one of the ways being on BookTube has changed my reading.

I am an elementary teacher, and I love lists and plans. However, for my reading, I am opposite. I am a mood reader, and I never make detailed plans for what I am going to read. Also, I just want to say I love your dress...those are some great colors especially on you.

I am a BIG planner...plans for all kinds of things because it's fun. 😅 When i was reading in high school, there were no plans that i remember. I read her and there over the years and didn't read so much. Then in 2017 i found an online bookclub on FB (because of watching a Booktuber) and went from mood reader to strict reading plans. Then last year i morphed into loose plans...a list of what I've been interested in lately, and then in the past 2 months I've thrown it all to the side and have been back to HARD mood reading with SUPER loose buddy reads/small group reads. And I've been really really happy with my mood reading now with a side of loosey-goosey plans. 😅

I plan my reading a lot but if a book ends up on one my lists that basically means I’m not going to read it haha. I have embraced over the last two years being an extremely spontaneous mood reader. This year I’ve allowed myself to DNF a lot but with the attitude that a book isn’t necessarily “bad” but more that “it’s the wrong time” with plans to come back to it later. Being in the moment is the way to go for me!

I love planning my TBR, even though it may not be fully executed. As you said, it's just a plan and it always can be changed. TBR helps me not to forget about books I was excited to discover thanks to my favourite booktubers' recommendations. So I feel I am on track and that list helps me to not to buy or borrowing to much 😁

Yes, lists and plans are a big part of my life, too. And, yes, it is always kindest to ourselves to bend, discard and ignore them as we grow and live our lives. Maybe we are all just trying to create that missing Owner's Manuel that never came with us I to the world. ;-)

For BookTubers, plans are content, so they serve yet another purpose. Often those plans have little predictive value, but they can tell us about what kind of person the planner wants to be, or the potential person they wish to present to the world. My plans are constantly changing or just plain forgotten. I started the year wanting to focus on the great classics that I thought I would enjoy while finishing up some I hadn't been enjoying. When Jennifer died, I suddenly found myself focusing on Roman classics, still classics, but a shift. Now I'm buying (not yet reading) more and more Roman history. I don't have rigid plans, but I do have areas of interest: WWI, Early Church, and Roman history, classics (Western Canon + classics of other cultures + books that have changed the way we tell stories), philosophy, nature, Christian theology, targeted self-help and health... So, not quite everything.... I try to limit myself a little, so I won't be reading all the Bookers, etc. 😃

I love a loose reading plan and here's why. I cannot deal with a strict plan, otherwise I feel under pressure and ruins my pleasure of reading and also potentially my mood and threatens a possible reading slump. Being under pressure really puts constraints on me and triggers college trauma (I am though able to manage pressure at work as long as it's not overwhelming and/or frequent, but my employee self feels like an alter ego). But I need a loose plan when it comes to my reading life. Otherwise I feel like I'm drowning in my shelves and I feel so disoriented. It's like one of those times (or often times) when you stare at your closet and you don't know what to wear. It's the same with books for me. I would hardly be able to pick up a book. Watching booktubers' plans - wise, I love a list, because it inspires me. I draw inspiration every time and there's also the curiosity factor. I'm nosy, I want to know what goes around in other people's minds. What inspired them to choose those books. Loved the video and I love having these conversations.

Happy Thursday, I am about 3 weeks new to your channel. I have several new books added to my TBR (thank you 😬). Yesterday I read/listened to Foster by Claire Keegan (recommended by another book tube channel). I would like to recommend it to anyone needing a really quick read/listen. The narrator was fabulous. Today I PLAN to start 1916

I think you make some insightful observations.

I'm amazed at the amount of tears I have shed for Janelle and Alice. They were guests in my home an hour or so every week for several years. I also am missing Brian Lee Durfee a whole lot and pray that he recovers enough to make regular videos again. Maybe you should make piles of possibilities instead of specific TBRs. That way, you could "wing it" more often. All of this heartache has made me avoid reading realistic books more than ever. Sad books are completely out of contention for the time being. I'm doing a lot of fantasy with ridiculous creatures and totally foreign worlds. Hope you soon get back to a new normal with your plans and your reads. Our booktube friends who are no longer with us would not want us to stop reading. They loved it too much!

I'm the kind of Reader who makes plans that are always Loosey-Goosey and I am uber proud if I actually check anything off the list - can't imagine how I'd be if I actually completed the list! 🤣

I love making book lists, but I'm a slow reader, so I don't actually read that many books. I'm also a mood reader, so planning doesn't really work for me. Because of that I've stopped naming my reading lists TBRs, but they're now piles of possibility. I have one that's a sort of bucket list, but I've also made one for this year and I make one for every season. When I'm looking for a new book to read I look at those lists, but sometimes I pick something that's not on one of my lists. I just go with the flow, lol. But the joy of making lists is thinking about these (hopefully) wonderfull books that I have not yet read and how much I think I'm gonna love them. Jennifers passing definately infuenced my reading. I'm much less tollerant with books I don't enjoy, because it has made me realize that there's only so many books I can read. So I put a book down more quickly. I'm also still very sad about losing her. She was always a delight to watch, she was so smart and funny! ❤

Thank you so much for this. I’ve been processing a lot of similar feelings lately about my reading and life in general, and this helped sort out some of them. Also, the quote you were looking for was “The best laid plans of mice and men go oft awry,” or “The best laid plans o’ mice and men gang aft aglee,” in Burns’ original Scots version.

Great video! Made me think. And I'm someone that loves a to do list and planning (whether or not those ever get marked off or things get done, ha!)

Hi Shelly, I'm sorry for the loss of your friends. Life always seems to derail plans. 🌸 As part of Jane Austen July, I'm watching Emma. Like right now it's paused on my TV. (Titled with a period "because it's a period piece.") The 2020 film with Anya Taylor-Joy, screenwriter Eleanor Catton (Birnam Wood author!) Prime (Freevee) also has the Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Beckinsale versions that were released within a year of each other in the 90s, but I'm convinced I'm watching the best one! 💛 I also listened to Emmett and plan to rewatch Clueless. Even though they're doing Sense and Sensibility this year, I'm drawn to exploring Emma variations. I did get a copy of Sanditon from the library that is on the Jane Austen July reading list. I also read Georgette Heyer's Regency World, which seems to be a reference Bible for these shows (including Bridgerton). A delightful must-read! And I'm going to read Castle of Otranto (read Northanger Abbey earlier this year before learning of the July challenge), already read Otranto's excellent Intro (2014 Oxford World Classics edition). I have learned so much about the time period and influences on the later literature I love! None of this was on my "list" earlier in the year. I've been enjoying developing a tbr and picking things off the tbr that relate to current Booktube challenges.

For me plans just help me keep track of my goals, I use SMART goals a lot with my students. They creates a structure for us to accomplish something as well as a stated end goal, whether its to finish these books or to finish a lesson by the end of the week

This is such an interesting video. I completely get how your plans changed after the passings of Jennifer and Alice, and that really is okay. While I think there is a utility in making plans/lists, none of them are written in stone. Reading should be an activity that fills your bucket and sometimes the substance we put in our bucket may not be what we planned.

I guess the excitement of making reading plans is akin to shopping in a bookstore - how we find an interesting book and buy it because we really want to read it soon. Then it may sit on our shelves for years. Of course often it is the case that a book is on one’s planned reading list, but it requires an outside stimulus (oh, another booktuber is discussing that book, or that book I planned to read would fit right in with this new reading event) to get started on the book. For instance, some time ago I had declared that I intended to reread Clifford D. Simak’s _Time and Again_ (1951), but now that the third week of Rocket Summer is here, I am now actually reading it. Sidebar: Your discussion of Emma’s list making made me think of the song “Girl of 100 Lists” by The Go-Go’s, a favorite of mine. Do you know it?

Loved this - I have thoughts! Will save for a video I think!

I definitely feel now the pressure of committing to tbr’s I’ve shared on booktube. Especially if someone has expressed excitement for me to try a specific book and I end up not liking it. I know I need to get over that, mature people will agree to disagree, but I feel bad. I think we can all relate to Emma in some sense but I do think the difference there is that Emma ends up not reading at all, whereas you Shelly definitely do, just not always what you planned to, and that’s totally fine. In the end I think viewers care more about your point of view, your thoughts and feelings, regardless of what or how much you end up reading. I know I do!

FWIW...I hated "Custom of the Country" but I loved "Age of Innocence"!

Planning, selecting things and navigating are part and parcel of purposeful living: be it savouring food or choosing clothes or reading- read intellectual fecundity!

Jennifer and Alice are missed by many people including me. - I'm terrible at sticking to plans. I also have 'Moby Dick' and 'The Makiota Sisters.' I haven't read either of them yet.

My Dear, very informative video as always. May I ask, having gained interest from a publisher who has given me advice about what to change in my Children's book, I feel like I really need an Agent, any advice is highly welcome. God bless & thank you for taking the time to make these videos.

First of all..can you share where you got your top? Secondly...I can imagine how the pressure is there for you to fulfill what you've announced but I support you in letting that go! You should read whatever you want to read! It should be fun. You have not failed at all! You are doing an amazing job!

For me making reading plans is more about the feeling that my reading has to have a purpose of some sorts. Does that make sense?