New Year's resolutions

It's been an eventful year here at the book cafe: European trips, one amazing Harry Potter studio tour, the Olympics, a trans-Atlantic move, new jobs. But in between all the excitement and the scariness of life changes, one thing remained constant: as always, I had my nose in a book about fifty percent of the time. This year my reading goal was sixty books, a goal that I managed to meet with a week to spare (fist pump).

My other literary goal, of course, was to finish my first draft of Dyllan and Abigail, my second young adult fantasy novel, which I accomplished over the summer.

So, what's in store for 2013?

Reading goals:

• Read 40 books.
• (Of these: 5 history books, 5 poetry collections, and 5 classics.)

Writing goals:

• Write 8,000 words each week.
• Edit Dyllan and Abigail until it looks like something resembling a real novel.

Non-literary goals:

• Complete my first half marathon (only a few weeks away!).
• Keep on running even after the half marathon is over.
• Start doing yoga.
• Learn Spanish.
• Support more charities.

So, what are your New Year's resolutions, readers? Let me know in the comments!

And however you celebrate tonight, stay happy and safe! See you next year.

The ninety-nine percent

*picks up blog*

*blows away dust*

Hello? Is everyone still here? I've been away for a while now, with November being crazy with NaNoWriMo and Thanksgiving and birthdays and new jobs and helping people move—did you guys do NaNo, by the way? I managed to hit 50K at 5:00pm on November 30th, just squeaking by with another "win," although my dragon novel somehow turned into a crazy time travel novel instead.

Anyway, with November being totally chaotic, I managed to fall way behind on my reading. My goal is to read 60 books this year, and last night I finished my 54th. I think I'm going to ease off writing for a little while to make sure I hit my reading goal by January 1st.

But I wanted to leave you with a quote that resonated with me, from one of the two books I did manage to read in November. This is from Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain (page 159). If I were a teacher, I would put this up on the wall of my classroom:

Persistence is not very glamorous. If genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration, then as a culture we tend to lionize the one percent. We love its flash and dazzle. But great power lies in the ninety-nine percent.

"It's not that I'm so smart," said Einstein, who was a consummate introvert. "It's that I stay with problems longer."