New year, new resolutions: 2023

This thing of reviewing the year that just passed is getting a little stressful. Could it be because the further we go on the more it seems that twelve months go by in a flash?
Okay, kidding!
It’s not that stressful. On the contrary, it’s actually useful for me to collect my ideas, realising that deep down (very deep down) I did something again this year and therefore giving myself a virtual pat on the back, thanks to which it’s easier for me to continue to carry on my many resolutions.
Then, thinking about it, this 2022 seemed a little longer than the previous ones. Just a wee bit, huh! Without exaggerating.

But let us leave these pseudo-philosophical (?) considerations aside and return to the facts. You may be wondering whether or not I managed to complete the resolutions I declared a year ago.

To tell the truth, I made this task quite simple, since I had only one resolution, that is to complete the preparation of the English version of the Detective Eric Shaw Trilogy.

Well, the first book in the series, “TheMentor”, was released on 30 November. The editions of the second, “Syndrome”, are all ready and the book is already available for pre-order. It will be published on 28 February 2023. Some editions of the third, “Beyond the Limit”, are also ready and available for pre-order. I still have to finish preparing the print ones, but there is no particular hurry, since the publication date is 31 May 2023.
So I can say that, as regards the preparation of the books and their publication, I have respected my intentions. Yay!

On the promotion front, however, I’m a bit behind.
In an ideal world, I should have had all the editions ready and available for pre-order as early as August, so that I could use the following three months to arrange the promotion and arrive prepared for the release of the first book.

Of course, we don’t live in an ideal world.
In reality, I only received the manuscript of the last book from my English proof-reader in May. I worked hard to complete the corrections and finally, after the umpteenth re-reading (also of the previous books), I found myself with the final version of the text.
And then summer arrived, with so many things to do (like going in holidays) and at the same time a lot of translation work to do.

Moreover, I started updating all the e-book editions of my books, in order to have a single epub version, with all the latest information inside, including all the necessary links (some didn’t work anymore). It was a job I had been carrying out since the beginning of the year and in some cases I also had to update the print versions.

Then, in May, I started experimenting with the possibility of making hardcover editions, so that I was prepared for when I would have to use this format with the English trilogy.
The object of my experiment was “Affinità d’intenti” (Italian book), which, being my shortest novel, allowed me to create a version in this format at an acceptable printing and list price.
For the occasion, I made a brand new cover based on the concept of the old one, but this time using photos. In particular, I used two shots by a Dutch photographer who lives in Sicily. This new cover has also become the official one for the e-book.

By the way, for the occasion, I created my new logo, which for now you can only see in the site icon on your browser and in a few other real (including the aforementioned hardcover edition) or virtual (like my YouTube channel) places.

The next step was adapting the cover also to the English edition, “Kindred Intentions”, both for the e-book and for the hardcover version. I also used it to create a second paperback edition, which is distributed via Ingram.
You can find out more about this edition and see some photos of the Italian one in the article you can find at this link.

The point is, in August I found myself with only the manuscripts of the trilogy in English in my hands and some ideas for adapting their covers (starting from their Italian version).
Since, in order to do things, you also need to know what you have to do, I sat down in front of a blank sheet (actually, a OneNote page) and drew up a detailed list of everything I should do to preparing books for publication and promoting them. Some entries then gave rise to new adjoining lists, until I finally got a real plan, which is still in progress.

At that point it was already September and I had to prepare my “Self-publishing laboratory” (a workshop) and a lecture for “Scienza & Fantascienza” (Science & Science Fiction), which I would then give in October.
At the beginning of October I finally returned to Varese to personally teach the workshop at the University of Insubria, after three years. How nice it was to be able to look students in the eye again!

(The first photo was taken in Varese, and you can see me together with Sara Simoni, a former student of my laboratory and now a fellow author.)

And two weeks later, I attended the conference, albeit remotely, since it was not possible to organise it during my short stay in Lombardy.
I have dedicated a separate article to the workshop and the conference that, if you wish, you can read at this link.

All this talk was to say that, basically, I turned around, and it was already November. And I was supposed to publish the first book within a month. Argh!
At that point, I really had to work hard.
Just think that the book has only one e-book version, but five different paper editions, each with a slightly different cover (two in the hardcover version and three in the paperback version). This is due to the fact that I have used multiple platforms to ensure that the book gets the widest possible distribution. It’s just that each platform has slightly different templates even for books in the same size.
In short, a long work!
But I’m glad I did it, because the covers came out really well. Check them out on the English trilogy mini website at this link.

However, all of this meant that I could only start promoting seriously after the release of “The Mentor”, so three months later, compared to the original plan.
Fortunately, self-produced books never expire.
So my main occupation at the moment is planning promotions and testing advertising platforms. I hope to see the first outcomes of all this work before the publication of the second book, in order to have a good domino effect on the third.
At the same time, I’m exploring other possibilities to exploit my rights, but I don’t want to go into details now. I’ll tell you more about it in the future if I see any opportunities materialise.

As you may have noticed, I didn’t mention any prequel to the trilogy (“La prova”, which in English would be “Evidence”). Well, as I feared, I didn’t have the time to deal with it at all. Not that I really wanted to write it, mind you, but even if I had fancied it a little, it wouldn’t have been of any use.
I have not completely ruled out the possibility of writing it in the near future, also because I always have the outline of the book ready in the drawer (it is literally in a handwritten sheet stored in a drawer), but if I just want to think of doing that, I must first complete the work started with the trilogy. We will see!

On the positive side, of the many entries on those lists that I mentioned earlier, at least half have been crossed out, which means I’m starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
I swear you I can hardly believe it!

It must also be said, however, that I didn’t spend twelve months always working in front of the PC. Apart from the fact that obviously in the summer, I spent a lot of time by the sea (and here the summer lasts from May to October), in July I went in holidays away from Sardinia (it was about time!) and, incredibly, I set foot abroad, even if only for a few hours.

I spent a wonderful week in South Tyrol, in particular in Puster Valley, from which I made a dutiful stop in Austria.

(The adjacent photo was taken on the cable car that connects Valdaora to the top of Plan de Corones, in the one below you can recognize the Three Peaks of Lavaredo taken from the observation point near Dobbiaco.)

The word wonderful, however, is absolutely reductive in describing how well I was during this holiday. You should know that I stayed there for a long time with my parents for the first time when I was still little more than a child (we are talking about more than three decades ago), in a small village called Villabassa (Niederdorf). I went there again in the mid-90s and then not anymore until last July. I was in South Tyrol again in the 2000s: once in 2001 for two days in Bressanone (to attend a concert) and then a few days in 2007 in Val Gardena, where Cagliari (the football team) was in retreat.

Well, when I set foot there again after a long time, I was delighted to discover that Villabassa hasn’t changed at all. After thoses decades, I remembered everything, I recognised every street (it’s not exactly a metropolis!) and I felt again that great feeling of peace that only the mountain can give you, combined in this case with pleasant reminiscences of a time of my life which was certainly much more carefree than the present.
We had been there for less than a day when my partner and I said to each other: we have to come back!
And I really think we will.

And if you’re curious to know how I spent the remaining time of 2022, in addition to the time spent dealing with my publishing business, translations, my beach life, and my holidays in the mountains, well, I spent it watching lots of tennis!
Eh, yes, it seems that this addiction of mine, which I already mentioned a year ago, continues. But on the other hand, if you have by chance kept an eye on my Facebook page or my Twitter profile or my Instagram stories, you were certainly already aware of it.
On the contrary, this December of abstinence (!) was quite hard. However, I consoled myself with figure skating (!!) and, obviously, with football, even if Cagliari has been making us suffer a bit in recent years.

Furthermore, there was no shortage of good films and especially good TV series to surround everything, with the addition of some good books, even if not many (lately I’ve been reading very little).

And finally, not content with the need to use English more and more, I decided to freshen up my German, now limping after years of little use, even in translations. I’ve been getting back to it little by little since last spring, without much haste. I’d like to bring it back at least to the level it was about ten years ago, to be able to exploit it more in my job as translator (and not only, as I did in July, to eavesdrop undisturbed the conversations between the hotel owner and German-speaking customers during my stay in South Tyrol).
Since I’m here, it wouldn’t hurt if I did the same with French, too.

Am I forgetting anything?
Ah yes, also this year I attended some MOOCs (massive open online courses) on FutureLearn: three in all. I find it more and more difficult to find something interesting that I haven’t already attended, but I don’t give up and keep looking.

Okay, let’s say that the report of the year that is about to end, albeit a bit chaotic, can be defined as complete. Now only the last part remains: setting resolutions for next year.

And this time too I intend to limit myself to the essentials.

1)      Finishing preparing and publishing the English edition of the Detective Eric Shaw Trilogy. And being able to get as much as possible from the promotion, without however feeling too much disappointed if I can’t reach as many readers as I would like.
I admit that for me it is already a success to be able to publish it, after all the work done to translate it. Once it’s there for the English-speaking public, I’ll have something tangible to work with to make the most of its rights.

2)      Finishing updating all my sites to be mobile friendly and introducing new graphics, with my new logo. I had already started doing this in 2021. Then, during 2022, I created mini websites for the English editions of my books (including the trilogy and Red Desert). Now I have to convert the main one both in Italian (Anakina.net) and in English (Anakina.Eu) and the Italian one dedicated to the Aurora Saga (or maybe I’ll call it Aurora Chronicles).
I should also take a new official photo, since the one I use now is more than eight years old.

3)      Doing more physical activity. I really want to take this as a serious commitment.

If all goes as expected, I should complete the first two resolutions in less than a year, considering that they are both underway. This means that there will be time for more, but I absolutely don’t want to make plans about it.
In fact, one of my greatest wishes is completing everything, really everything, that I’m doing and finding myself one day with zero projects started. And at that point deciding, based on how I feel at that moment, which will be the next one to dedicate myself to.

Will it happen in 2023?
We’ll see and, hopefully, in a year’s time I’ll tell you all about it.

That’s all for this year, too.
As usual, I close by thanking all of you who follow me: family, friends, readers, colleagues, and collaborators.
Heartfelt thanks for the support you give me.

If you want, tell me in the comments of this article, or of the social networks where I’m sharing it, how your 2022 went and what you intend to do in 2023.
Have a good end and a good beginning!