The Weekly Write-Up #50
Looking Ahead to 2024!
Wow! The first newsletter of 2024 is also the 50th newsletter from The Weekly Write-Up! What a special occasion! Since this occasion is special, I’m going to make a special announcement about something new that is coming to TWWU. In the coming months, the plan is for TWWU to start a podcast! We are still in the brainstorming process for this podcast, and none of the details have been decided yet, but I wanted to let you all in on this so you can look forward to it in the near future.
In this newsletter…
Reading more in 2024!
Under the sea…again?
Full review for the best app of 2023!
My goals for 2024!
Literary Picks
The Why, How, and What of Reading in 2024
A common New Year’s Resolution is to read more. Why should we read though? How should we go about doing this? What should we even be reading? Well, I want to answer all three of those questions in this section.
Why Should I Read?
Reading is something that we as humans have been doing for centuries. Reading allows us to expand our knowledge and learn information we couldn’t learn otherwise. Reading is useful not only for learning, but also for our enjoyment. Even if you don’t like reading much, I’m sure you can find books out there that you find interesting. For many people, reading is a way to relax or wind-down. Overall, reading has been found to be extremely beneficial, and it isn’t going away anytime soon!
How Should I Read?
Okay, I agree that reading is important, but how should I go about doing that? I think there are really three steps:
Set a Goal
Choose Some Books
Set Aside Time and Read
The first step is setting a goal. Every year, I set a goal for how many books I want to read that year. For example, this year my goal is 35 books. Your goal doesn’t have to be perfect. Don’t worry about making it too high or too low! If you surpass your goal, that is great, and if you don’t reach your goal, then at least you spent some time reading! The number of books you shoot for mostly depends on if you enjoy reading and/or how much time you have to read. Below, I have provided a guide for choosing how many books to read:
Beginner: 6 Books
Explorer: 12 Books
Avid Reader: 24 Books
Book-Worm: 30-40 Books
Scholar: 50+
The second step is to choose some books, which I will talk more about below. This step can oftentimes be the hardest, but hopefully my suggestions will help you! Finally, you just need to set aside the time and do the reading. Find a comfy corner, grab your book/Kindle and a blanket, and enjoy some time reading!
What Should I Read?
Finally, what should you even read? There are loads of different genres out there (science-fiction, fantasy, mystery, action, historical-fiction, self-help, biography, and SO much more)! There are about 160 million books that exist, so which should you read? The easy answer is to choose a wide variety of genres to read. Whether you are new to reading and don’t know which genres you like or have been reading consistently for years and know exactly which type of books you like, reading different genres is a great way to open up new possibilities and find good books. Once you find what you like, you can spend most of your time reading in that genre, but be sure not to neglect other genres. For example, my favorite kind of books are sci-fi books and fantasy books, but I also read many other types of books. A great way to find books is to talk to others about what books they have read. Also, if you read the Literary Picks section of each newsletter from TWWU, you are going to get a lot of book recommendations. In fact, I bet you could scroll through Hyperlink Index right now and find multiple books you enjoy! There are certainly a lot of books out there, which can be overwhelming, but at the same time, gives you many possibilities!
This section was a little bit different today, but I hope that it was helpful if you are hoping to read more this year!
Watchlist Wonders
The Little Mermaid
This past week I watched the new The Little Mermaid movie with my family (it was the girls’ night to pick). Even though I wouldn’t have picked this movie, I think Disney did a pretty good job with the remaking of this movie; although I do have some complaints with Disney making another live action remake.
First, let’s start with what I liked about this movie before I rant about why I don’t like what Disney has been doing recently. The first plus is how this movie was put together. The acting, visual effects, and even the additional songs were all good additions that improved this movie. It hit all the major plot points, and the creators also added some extra scenes, which gave the movie some more depth. I will admit that I liked it better than I do the original The Little Mermaid movie, mostly because it seems more realistic when it is not animated.
My biggest complaint is that I wish the creators had added some more changes to the plot. It seemed exactly like the original movie with not many differences. I felt like I was watching a movie that I had already seen! This seems to be a common theme with Disney’s live action remakes. Although some people like them, I’m honestly not a huge fan of them. While these remakes are pretty good, they don’t really seem to change anything when it comes to the plot, making the movie basically the same with the only difference being that it isn’t animated. I have said this before and will say it again: I wish Disney would come up with more original plot ideas instead of recycling their old ideas! Every Disney movie now is either a remake or a sequel, and this movie wasn’t an exception!
This was a pretty good movie in the way it was executed, but honestly, I don’t think it should have been made in the first place. We have seen this movie before and don’t really need to watch it again even if the new version is better. I’m sure this movie is enjoyable for kids, but I just feel as if I have seen it already…
Tech Thoughts
Gola
Since it is the New Year, many people have probably started their resolutions. If you are creating New Year’s resolutions, it is important to have a way to keep track of these so you can refer back to them later. Sure, you could just use a piece of paper or a spreadsheet, but I have something much better! Gola is the ultimate goal-tracking app because of its effectiveness, beautiful interface, and large array of features.1
What is Gola, and why is it such a good app? Gola allows you to create goals for anything you want to get done in your life. Whether this be reading more books, eating less junk food, or spending more time with your family, Gola can help you get this done! Gola has 6 different goal types from single one-and-done goals to countdowns which tick down how long you have to complete that goal (ex. one month of no YouTube). When creating a goal, you can create the name, a description, an icon, the type of goal, deadline, etc. The real magic, though, is how Gola helps you get this goal done. Gola can schedule periodic check-ins for you to revisit your goals, show you progress on how you are advancing to finish your goal, and even use AI to give you advice on how to complete your goal. Another attribute of Gola I really like is the design and interface. It is really easy to use and looks beautiful, which I believe is important!
I think Gola is an amazing app because it allows you to track your goals in an easy and effective way. While I don’t have any complaints with Gola, there are a few things I wish the app would add. One of these being folders, which would allow you to organize your goals into different areas of your life (personal, school, work, health, spiritual, etc.). Even if the app isn’t completely perfect, it has a lot of great features! I am definitely going to use it to track my goals for 2024 as I progress through the year! Gola has an iPhone app, iPad app, and Apple Watch app (sorry, no Android or Mac app). It is free to use to track up to two goals. If you want to create more than two goals, you need to either pay for a subscription or pay for the one-time payment to use the app for life. The one-time payment is less than $10, so that is the option I would recommend. You can download Gola on the App Store (I highly recommend doing so)!
Wild Card
New Year’s Resolutions for 2024
Every year I like to make goals for the new year. Though some people do this just for fun, I am pretty serious about it. This year, I came up with a ton of New Year’s resolutions, which I will be tracking in Gola (shameless plug). If you are struggling to come up with New Year’s resolutions or are just looking for some ideas, I am going to share with you some of my New Year’s resolutions:
Read Bible Daily- Reading my Bible is something I have struggled to do consistently, so I want to make it a daily habit in 2024.
Journal Daily- Technically, I have already failed this one, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to give up…
Pray Daily- Prayer is another spiritual habit that I struggle to get into a routine for, so I want to make that a priority this year.
Monthly Check-In- Every month, I want to take some time to consciously evaluate how satisfied I am in various areas of my life.
Plan Every Week- Having an organized and planned life is very important. This year, I want to sit down every Sunday and time-block/plan my entire week.
Limit Screen Time- The original number I put on this is up to 2hr of screen time (outside of school work), but I have found this to be extremely challenging. I’m going to keep working at it though.
Publish 35 Newsletters- Self-explanatory, but no promises…
Play Board Games- I love board games and would like to play more this year. My goal is 50 board games in 2024.
Play Guitar More- I used to play my guitar a lot, but I don’t as much anymore. My goal for 2024 is to play it for a total of 35 hours.
Learn Spanish- I have taken three years of Spanish, but I would like to continue my Spanish journey by completing 250 lessons in Duolingo this year.
Read More Books- Every year, I create a goal for how many books I want to read in the new year. This year, my goal is 35 books! I will be talking about an app soon to help you track the books that you read.
Read Books w/ Others- In addition to reading books, I want to read a few of these books with other people that I’m close with.
Workout More- Working out is something that I prioritized in the latter half of 2023, and I want to continue that into 2024. My goal is to complete 150 workouts this year.
Run More- I’ve always wanted to run more, but I’ve never made it happen. This year, I want to try and break that by running a total of 100 miles.
Challenges
No YouTube Challenge- This is my challenge for the month of January (this month). It is pretty self-explanatory; I’m not allowed to watch any YouTube unless it is with other people (so none by myself).
No Candy Challenge- Again, this is self-explanatory. I’m not allowed to have any candy in the month of March. Desserts and other sweets are fine, but no candy.
No Sugary Drinks Challenge- My goal for the month of May is to have no sugary drinks (no soda, no lemonade, or any other sugary drinks). This one is going to be hard…
Writing Challenge- In the month of July, I’m going to be doing a writing challenge where I try to write for about 30min as many days of the month as I can.
Yoga Challenge- September is National Yoga Month, so I’m going to strive to do yoga every day in the month of September.
Gratitude Challenge- Since Thanksgiving is in November, I want to do a gratitude challenge where I write about something I’m thankful for every day of the month.
I hope these goals and challenges gave you some ideas for your own goals for this year! Happy New Year!
Disclaimer: I was given a free lifetime subscription in exchange for a review of Gola, but as always, I gave my honest thoughts about the subject.
Happy to hear that you will be playing your guitar again😄