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Do you make New Year’s Resolutions? I used to try that, but I kind of gave up. Too easy to make and break promises to myself, so why do that to? But this year, I thought I would make a resolution to make a New Year’s Resolution. To be fair, though, it really should be two resolutions: one as a reader, and one as a writer.
But now I am having trouble figuring out which resolution to go with. I’ve created a sort of wish list. Some of them seem too short to qualify as a resolution, others seem much too long. And the whole thing looks to me like a To Do List for 2023 . . . Are some of these something you want to resolve to do too?
Next year, I resolve . . .
As a writer, to
- Research and write the book set in 1850s Illinois
- Research and write the sequel to #1
- Research and write the third book, so now it’s a trilogy
- Get better at using social media to promote the books I already have
- Learn how to do a better book launch
- Launch books #1, 2, and 3
- Get on my Reddit chat rooms more often
- Add an episode to my new YouTube Channel once a week
- Start a podcast
- Create One Sheets for the books I already have
- Get those One Sheets sent out to bookstores and libraries
- Ask my friends to go to their libraries to request my books and audiobooks
- Write the book proposal for the nonfiction book series I started writing during Covid
- Get back to the research for writing book #3 of the two historical fiction books I already have
- Convince my girlfriend to do the artwork for the children’s book I wrote for her to illustrate
- Get back to editing the historical fiction book that I wrote 8 years ago and set aside because it just wasn’t “ripe” yet
- Find the money to turn more of my books into audiobooks
- Sew a new Regency dress for Jane Austen events
- Finish writing the nonfiction book series I started writing during Covid
- Re-release the historical fiction trilogy (once it is a trilogy) with all-new book covers
- Go to writers’ workshops
- Write more essays for Book Cave
- Get more exercise; sitting at the computer working all the time isn’t healthy
As a reader, to
- Finish all three of the half-read books hiding in various parts of my house
- Re-read the Jane Austen books I didn’t re-read in 2022
- Read something that has nothing to do with the research reading for my writing projects
- Read all the books in the pile for the research for my writing projects
- Read something in a genre that I’ve never read before
- Try to buy no more new books than will fit on the To Be Read shelf
- Read everything currently on the To Be Read shelf so I can buy more books
- Join more book clubs
- Find book clubs that might be reading the books on my To Be Read shelf
- Find the box with all the books of the authors I met at the last book festival, and put all their books on the To Be Read shelf
- Listen to more audiobooks
- Learn that I don’t HAVE to finish a book when I don’t like it
- Every time I read a book, get online and write a review for it when I finish
- Remember to get on Goodreads more often to post what I’m currently reading
- Find at least ONE book that I admit I’m never going to read again and donate it to the library’s used book store
- Put a book on my nightstand so when I can’t sleep, I can just read without getting out of bed
- Buy those David McCullough books I didn’t know he’d written, put them on the floor in front of the To Be Read Shelf because there’s no more room to put the books on the shelf
- Remember to fill the water bottle before getting on the exercise bike to read; it’s annoying to have to stop mid-chapter to go get water
- Stop trying to cook and read at the same time. It never goes well
- Remember there are things called e-readers, I can have books on my phone for when it’s inconvenient to be traveling with a full suitcase and backpack with no room for books
Ah. Yes, I think I see why I generally don’t make New Year’s Resolutions. This seems like kind of a lot. Wish me luck.
What New Year’s resolutions will you be making?
Happy reading!
I think I see your problem with new years resolutions. 1. You make too many of them. 2. Too many are related to others on your list.
Maybe if you group the ones that go together, then think of them as a chapter synopsis of your 2023 yearbook, you can figure out which ones go first and which ones go on to next year.