Like usual, it’s hard to believe that a new year is upon us already. While I don’t make common resolutions like saying I’ll work out more (because I won’t) or that I plan to lose a lot of weight (I need to, that’s for sure, but I embrace my chubbiness), I do like to make resolutions concerning my writing and reading. I’ll share this week’s “Novel Thoughts” column below for the paying subscribers — in it I wrote about some reading resolutions I have for this year.
Concerning my writing life and career, though, there are many things I hope to accomplish this year.
One of those things pertains to “Novel Thoughts.” In 2022, I managed to get it into three more newspapers — the Bristol Herald-Courier in Bristol VA/TN picked it up in February, and the Fremont Tribune and Columbus Telegram in Nebraska began running it in December. It’s been a goal of mine for some time to self-syndicate it, but after many rejections from newspaper editors, I was beginning to think it would never happen. The editors who finally gave me a break are editors who met with me in person, so that’s a goal of mine — to get a few more newspaper editors to sit down for a face-to-face conversation with me instead of easily rejecting me via email. My goal is to get at least two more newspapers to run the column; more would be ideal, but I’ll be thrilled with two more. Naturally, I will strive for more, but the resolution is to entice two more. Wish me luck.
After publishing “Trouble on Tybee” in November, I’ve been approaching libraries and other literary events in the hopes of setting up as many appearances and readings as possible. So far, I have a few lined up for 2023, but my goal is to do at least 25 appearances. That’s not very many, I realize, but it’s an attainable goal, and every appearance beyond that number will be an extra feather in my cap. While I do most of the work reaching out to librarians and the like, I have been contacted by a couple people who have either heard of me or have been to one of my past appearances. I like it when that happens because it means I’m becoming “known” even in a small capacity. Because of that, I’ve already been booked for an event for next January! Please visit my Readings and Appearances page on my website to see all my upcoming appearances as well as all those I’ve done since leaving teaching to focus on my writing career: Readings and Appearances
Aside from this weekly Substack blog/newsletter, I also write one about words called “Cognate Cognizance.” Check it out here if you’d like: Cognate Cognizance Like “Tomes and Topics,” it’s free, but there is a paid component. For “Cognate Cognizance,” paying subscribers get the posts every week while the free subscribers get them every other week. I would like to increase my subscribers for both “Cognate Cognizance” and “Tomes and Topics,” and I would especially like to add a few more paying subscribers, so I can continue to focus solely on writing and not have to resort to substitute teaching or something else to help me get by. My goal is to acquire 10 more paying subscribers total. Naturally, more would be heavenly, but ten would go a long ways toward helping me get by. If you know of anyone who might like to subscribe, for free or paying, to this or to “Cognate Cognizance,” please send them my way or use the “share” button to send this post to someone.
Regarding the main reason I left teaching, I want to finish and publish another book by the end of the year. My problem is that I have two that are fairly far along in the process, but I also have two that I recently began writing. All four projects appeal to me so much that I don’t know which one to tackle and stick with. I’m leaning hard toward one of the recent ones because the idea for it is most prominent in my thoughts. However, if I do that, there’s a chance that I might not complete a book by the end of the year, whereas if I tackle one of the two that are already far along, I could probably have it finished and ready for publication by the end of 2023. I don’t want to allow too much time to go by between books, but I also don’t want to rush the process and create a subpar book. Dilemmas, dilemmas. Ultimately, my goal is still to TRY to complete and publish a book by the end of the year. I will promise to work on one every day — it just might not be the same one every single day.
My other resolutions pertain to my reading life. If you’re a paid subscriber, you can keep reading to see those, or you can upgrade to paid now to access the rest of this post as well as all my past archive of posts.
Last week, I started a thread about favorite books, but no one added to it besides me. Please consider going back to that and adding a couple comments about your favorite books. Thanks.
Tammy Marshall
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