The Sunday Salon: New Year’s Resolutions 2011

I feel a bit intimidated writing this post, I have to say—other book bloggers have posted their reading resolutions for this year, and they’re organized and succinct. My plans are much less focused, but seeing those posts do remind me to codify my goals; I’m a person who can get stuck in a rut very easily, as I can’t really function efficiently without a routine. (The holidays have been throwing me off, I admit.) Still, I do have some bookish resolutions for this shiny new year.

Giveaways

I’d like to arrange more giveaways. As I’ve often mentioned, I pick through thrift stores on a constant basis for books, films, and music. So I have a tub full of finds sitting in my room at home, which could be put to better use—putting good books in people’s hands! So far, I’ve scheduled a handful of giveaways, including one that has to do with someone’s birthday this month. These are going to be gently used books that I’ve read and liked. I’ll also give away my unwanted ARCs at some point, but I feel like that ought to be part of a holiday bundle.

Writing

I’ve recently started up a writing group at my school, after the failure of a writing group that never came to be. And that has really helped me, although we’ve only met twice so far; it forces me to take my writing seriously, which, in the rush of everyday life, I can often forget. While NaNoWriMo 2009 was useful to show me that, yeah, I can actually crank out a novel’s worth of words (whether those words are worth a novel is another issue entirely), I think it can sometimes invite people to compartmentalize their writing as something they only do in November—and I need to be writing all the time. I’d also like to focus on short stories a little more. This also extends to my work here at The Literary Omnivore; this means checking over reviews and finally deciding on which style to cite in (as an English major, I naturally lean towards MLA).

And that’s basically it. I still always switch genres between reads, so I don’t get burnout on certain genres (as I did on fantasy after Narnia Week). If there’s anything you guys would like to see here at The Literary Omnivore, please feel free to tell me in comments; I haven’t whipped up a form, but I think I’ll try to next year.

Redhead at The Little Red Reviewer is giving away her ARC of Walking the Tree until midnight tonight, so hustle! The Baen Free Library is full of free downloads, including The Shadow of the Lion and On Basilisk Station. Night Shade Books is offering Butcher Bird and Grey as free downloads at the moment. Vertigo Comics is offering free downloads of the first issue of several series, including Fables, The Unwritten, and Y: The Last Man. (And you will go download The Unwritten.) If I’ve missed your giveaway or freebie, drop me a line!

What are your bookish resolutions for 2011?