It is new year’s eve, blogglings, the day of parties and friends and generally just going crazy at midnight. And…I have a cold.
That doesn’t really affect my plans much because I am (quite happily, I might add), not going to any party, instead I’m staying home and going to be binge watching either A) Daredevil, B) Arrow, or C) Parks & Rec, eating popcorn, and just generally being fine that I don’t have to go out and deal with people.
Does that sound antisocial? I dunno.
But while I may have decided to skip out on one New Year’s Eve thing, I’m not skipping out on the other; New Year’s Resolutions. When I was a kid, they tended to be things like “eat ice cream for breakfast one day,” or “get another dog” or “go too (insert name of far-off country here)”. Things that probably won’t come true.
I’ve scaled back my expectations a bit.
- Finish at least two novels, and edit them.
- Post at least one book review on this blog every month.
- Start attending Elliot Bay Book Co.’s monthly teen book club.
- Be able to read while walking without falling off the curb and nearly killing myself.
- Get a bookmark from every single bookstore I go into.
- Only buy one new book a month. (But I can go nuts on used)
- I read around 300 books this year. Let’s aim for 400 next year.
- Buy my dad a bookmark so he’ll stop dog-earing pages.
- Buy bookish socks (I like socks).
- Actually start commenting on people’s blogs. I may not think it, BUT I HAVE TIME.
- Win both sessions of Camp NaNoWriMo AND regular NaNoWriMo
- After I edit those two novels, get beta readers for them.
- Don’t DNF. Ever. No matter how boring the book.
- Actually get a certain friend to read the books that I recommend to her (*coughJohanacough*)
- Read at least five books by indie authors.
- Every time an author I like comes to Seattle, attend their event.
- Go to PNWA’s Writer’s Conference. Even though I don’t belong to PNWA.
- Make a recipe from a book one every month.
- Stop being afraid to write romance in my novels.
- Practice photography like crazy, and do it whenever I can.
- STOP COMPARING MY FIRST DRAFTS TO PUBLISHED NOVELS. Those writers have had months of edits and beta readers and more edits, and first drafts just suck as a general rule. THEY ARE MEANT TO BE HORRIBLE. EMBRACE THAT.
And, those are my resolutions! Do we share any of the same ones? How did your last year go, bookish, bloggish, and writing wise? Was it a good year or a bad year? How many books do you think you read? Do you have any spectacular plans for tonight?
Happy Thursday,
Writing on a Vintage Typewriter 
Good luck on all of them, but I particularly agree with the last one~ It’s difficult but vastly important.
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It is difficult, more difficult than it should be. Like, I know how many edits and people a novel goes through before it’s published, but for whatever reason it’s a hard thing to remember when you’re writing
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These are some amazing goals! Good luck with them, especially your novels! It’s hard to stop the nagging voices when writing but I’m sure you can do it 🙂
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Thanks! And it is hard, scarily hard, to stop the voices. Sometimes I think that’s why I blast music when I write, because A) people don’t talk to me when I have earbuds in, B) I can tune out the real world when I write, and C) it’s harder for the little voice to say stuff.
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I LOVE THIS LIST SO SO MUCH. Also 21 is so full of truth. *dies a little* I do that all. the. time. Grrr. It really makes writing suck sometimes. BUT ANYWAY. I think all your resolutions are fabulous…I haven’t decided what mine are quite yet?! But it’ll probably be all about writing and reading a zillion books heehe. I’m predictable. BUT OMG 400?!?! YOU INSANE WONDERFUL cREATURE! I’m aiming for 200, even though I hit 300 last year. I kinda want to back off reading a little and focus on writing more? I tend to neglect it. hehe.
I hope your cold gets better though. *gives you soup instead of cake*
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I AM AN INSANE WONDERFUL CREATURE, AND I WILL READ 400 . I SWEAR THIS.
I would love to focus more on writing this year too, but the problem is is that I’ve been in a bit of a writing rut. I’ll get an idea that seems fantastic, but the more I think about it, the more lame it sounds. And the one idea I do really like, the main character has depression and it turns out I made a couple of huge errors about depression, so I’ve put it on the back burner to research a bit more.
And I was going to start it yesterday. So, we’ll see.
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Binge watching television is an underrated New Year’s Eve activity. XD My sister and I always stay in and watch a silent movie right before midnight. There’s something kind of mystical about the silence so late in the evening.
300 books! Wow, the only people I have known who have that kind of reading pace are librarians who read children’s picture books. I started a goodreads challenge for 50 books this year since I didn’t even read that many. 😦 But hey, one of them was War and Peace! I am so focused on writing I pretty much only read at work during lunch now, which makes it take several days to finish any book. I admire your resolve. Hope you meet your goal of 400 and your other goals too!
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That’s a cool idea. We tend to watch either really funny sitcoms or action movies too keep ourselves awake. XD
I’m a speed reader, so I can finish a book pretty fast. And I read every night, so unless I’m sick/extremely busy, I average about one book per day.
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All of these are super great, and important. Aiming for 400 books! Wow. Camp Nano and Nano too. Good luck!! I’m sure you can do it!
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I will reach 400 if I die doing it! //battle cry.
And thanks! It’s been a sort of tough year (or last year, I guess), writing wise, so I’m hoping Camp will give me the kick in the butt that I need.
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