Monday, January 05, 2009

I resolve in 2009...

Happy 2009, everyone!

I do love making new year's resolutions, and listed a few over on my personal blog. Here are some of my work-related goals:

-Come up with plan to manage submissions in a more efficient way--do not keep authors/agents waiting for more than 3 months (I know, I resolved to do this last year, but this year I'm being more specific!)
-Read (including audio books) at least one adult book every three months, and one published MG/YA book every month (I know this probably seems pitiful, but I always feel guilty when I'm not reading submissions)
-Clean my office for at least a half hour each week (I went into the office on Friday to clean and organize, so I have a bit of a head's start now...)

I managed to read a lot over the holiday break, and it felt fantastic. I read Malcolm Gladwell's newest, Outliers (loved it). I read Jenny Han's upcoming novel, The Summer I Turned Pretty (SO good). I read Sarah Ockler's upcoming debut novel Twenty Boy Summer (what a tear-jerker!), and Coraline by Neil Gaiman (fantastic!). And I finally made significant progress into a book I had started last year but never finished, What Is the What by Dave Eggers. And yes, I even read some submissions. I also read the newspaper almost every day. And it all felt fantastic. And so this is why I am determined to keep reading actual published books throughout the year. I will, goshdarnit! It's why I wanted to be involved in publishing in the first place, after all. For the love of the books.

Did you read any good books over the holidays?

5 comments:

Jean Wogaman said...

I read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and Masterpiece by Elise Broach. Enjoyed them both.

Libby Koponen said...

Well, you know I read and loved OUTLIERS. I also re-read a lot of old favorite, but really, if reading came into my resolutions I'd have to say I should be reading LESS, not more.

This will probably happen by itself if I manage to get a job in NY and move there!

Rebecca Stead said...

I really loved WHAT IS THE WHAT.

Over the holidays, I read THE WHITE TIGER, by Aravind Adiga, THE GIVEN DAY, by Dennis Lehane, and SHUG, by Jenny Han. All quite wonderful.

Anonymous said...

I read THE WILLOUGHBYS by Lois Lowry, DISHES by Rich Wallace, THE HIDDEN TREASURE OF GLASTON (an oldie) by Eleanor Jewett, poetry volumes by D. Lux, MEXICAN WHITE BOY by dela Pena, and more.

MotherReader said...

I read a lot of good picture books over the holidays - or more accurately, re-read them for the Cybils shortlist. I was very excited to get Wabi Sabi on the list. It's a beautiful book, and I really enjoyed your stories about its creation.