2017 is the Year of the Crystal

It’s also the Year of the Amy, the Tiffany, the Lynn and the Jenni, because it’s the year when our books will shake the world! This week the Debs are writing about our New Years dreams, resolutions, hopes, goals, and ambitions. 

On April 25th, my dream will come true. I’ll truly be a published author. It’s the start of what I hope will be a long, lucrative career. But, unless I’m lucky, I can’t assume this book is going to rocket me to instant fame and a full pocketbook. More likely it’s the first step on the long sloping ramp upward, but getting to that ramp in the first place is a massive feat in itself.

I have a few writing and book resolutions this year (and in my mind these are WAY more fun than resolving to go back to the gym, or to clean out all my closets, to spend less, etcetera).

1. Read 75+ books this year. I managed to read 88 in 2016 so, in theory, I should try to match that but hey, I’m launching a book this year and think I might be rather busy. 🙂  But I feel really strongly about the need to do this. I want to always be learning and challenging my thoughts and assumptions. Reading is a great way to do that. As part of finding a way to move out of my comfort zone, I’m going to tackle Book Riot’s Read Harder Challenge. When I first looked at the list I thought to myself, why on earth would I want to read a book about THAT, or THAT, and then I realized if I felt so resistant to those topics, that maybe it’s all the more reason I should read. For example, the suggestion about reading a book about sports. Turns out that Haruki Marukami wrote a book about running. Ok, I can get into that. The New York Public Library had some good suggestions for anyone tackling the Book Riot challenge.I have always been a voracious reader, sucking them down like they are candy. For the last few years I’ve been trying to track all the books I read and the ones I should want to, on this crazy insane list, which I admit needs a bit of updating.Reading also helps you write better, so all the more reason for me to read as much as I can.
2. Finish THE SECRET CHEF. I have ten chapters left to go and I know what’s going to happen, so ass in seat, as my friend Dorothy Parker used to say. This is such a fun book, set in Renaissance Italy, about the Italian chef, Bartolomeo Scappi. It’s a mystery, a romance, and full of food, feasts, murder and intrigue. I really want to get the first draft off my plate before my book is out because I’m not going to have a lot of time come March through the summer.
3. Spit out a bunch of bylines about the world of ancient Rome and Apicius. That book promotion thing. I need to do several of these over the course of the next few weeks and then work on getting them placed.
4. Promote the hell out of FEAST OF SORROW. I’m a marketer by trade, so this is actually fun for me too. I have a zillion ideas on where I can take this thing, hopefully culminating with being at the top of the best-selling charts. And on some movie producer’s desk, or perhaps some exec at HBO (killer mini-series, I tell you!). A girl can dream.

What are your writerly, bookish resolutions/goals for the year ahead?