It feels like, and is true, that I’ve been preparing this 2020 New Year post for a couple days at least. I want so badly to get some new stuff out to you, whoever you are. Every time I turn around to do something else I come back and discover my plate is magically full again. Or was it ever empty…?
Here’s the thing, I’m not complaining. No, I’m not. It’s really awesome to have a full plate, literally and figuratively. I am still as excited about bookstores and the idea of books as I was for elementary school bookfairs. I love just being in bookstores. I love having spent hours cataloguing books in a storage unit. All those thoughts and ideas… And here I am, doing the writing. Here I am studying books as I read and escape in them. Here I am, writing a novel, and neglecting my eternal backlog of to-be-read books. 😀 And I. Am. THRILLED! (Never mind that there are other things on my plate than reading and writing. Or the fact that I will not stop at one novel. Or…)
But all this thrill needs a lot more organization and planning. Heck yeah! Heck yeah you ask? Heck yeah I say. Sure New Year’s Resolutions are kind of cliche. Saying I’m making them makes me a little red in the face. I rethink even talking about them here. I think that maybe I shouldn’t talk about them at all because talking about them will probably destroy the magic. Why? Because don’t they always fizzle?
Maybe. Often. Eventually.
Why? Probably because I try to just be so new and so different instead of incorporating different and new into me. Does that make sense? I hope so.
It feels really exciting to put a list together of all the books I plan to read. I adjusted my 2019 TBR to bring it up to date and laughed at my ambition. It’s beautiful, ambition, but it was a little much. Impractical. After all, I am writing a novel that is suggesting to me that it might be at least a duology. Just saying… Does that mean I shouldn’t shoot for the stars? Of course not. It means I should maybe start small and manageable. Rebuild how I do things.
This year, as I mentioned in my post about audio books, I started an Audible subscription and I love it. It might not feel the same or be the same as reading books but it’s fabulous. On the simplest level it’s fun to have a book read to you, reminds me of when I was a kid and my dad would read to us at night before bed. On the adult level it means you can do all kinds of stuff and “read” a book at the same time! Woo hoo! On the downside you don’t get to visit a bookstore to get your next book. 😉
So where was I? Right, audible, rebuilding, restructuring, being ambitious and realistic. With Audible I can listen to a book a month, if you don’t include the free originals (which aren’t always worth the…tape…lol), that’s minimum 12 books a year! Super doable. 😀 Heck yeah! Maybe somewhere in there I pick up a daily deal (discounted offer) or treat myself for an accomplishment. A book instead of an ice cream or french fry or… Now I could in theory tell you right now what those 12 books are going to be but I have a feeling I will deviate from the plan. But I can give you a couple of titles to count on or at least the one I’m going to read the next month.
What else? Well it wouldn’t be too much to ask myself to read one physical book a month. I can do that easily just by limiting screen time, without disrupting my writing time. 24 books in 2020? Okay, let’s make it 30 because why not? That might not be a lot of books but it’s awesome. And I can meet that challenge, no problem.
I don’t know, I might actually have some time in there to pursue and accomplish other projects I’ve long promised to pursue and accomplish. I don’t want to spread myself too thin over one area of my life. Let me cover the bread but remember I’ve got a loaf yet.
I’m thinking, set my goals high enough I have to reach and work for them but know my limits enough to avoid setting myself up for failure.
Here’s to 2020 folks, and a saying I read on Facebook that said something like may the tears you shed in 2019 water the seeds you’re planting in/for 2020.
And here’s to all of you, may this too be true. 😉
Away we go into the 2020 New Year, may it not be better in hindsight! Heck Yeah! (Oh I like that, that was a good one. I should write more…;))
One response to “Away we go into the 2020 New Year…”
Heck Yeah‼️