New year, new resolutions (?): 2024

The end of the year has arrived again and with it the time to take stock and define some goals for the one that is about to begin.

But is it really necessary?

I recently reorganised a good part of the contents of my Italian blog and I realised that there were as many as twelve posts dedicated to New Year’s resolutions, meaning that this is the thirteenth year that I have decided to end by writing such an article. And I wondered if it still makes sense to do it.

Of course, it’s more of an exercise to refresh my thoughts on the things I did in the last twelve months, but it was originally thought as a way to encourage myself to continue my projects related to writing and then publishing.

Although I completed pre-existing publishing projects this year (I’ll tell you about them shortly), I didn’t start any new ones since at least the end of 2020, when I finished writing and published my last book in Italian.

 

As I already mentioned to you a year ago, in fact, at the moment what I want most in the publishing field is to finish everything I started, in order to draw a line on my work, before finally understanding which direction to take my efforts in. In short, I absolutely need to complete past years’ resolutions once and for all before I can define new ones.

To this end in early 2023 I compiled a long list that included them all, plus many other things I had been considering for some time, but had never listed in one place, and from then on I started to address each point, possibly in order, and then cross it out once completed. The list contains something like fifty items, some of which have numerous sub-items. So far I have crossed out eighteen, while six are in progress (some very close to completion).

In short, the road is still long, but I don’t consider it a problem as long as I continue to move forward.

 

Looking at the list now, it might seem like I didn’t do much. In reality, some of the items include commitments that are anything but quick, starting from the resolutions I had set for myself at the end of 2022.

Do you remember them? There were three in total.

The first, and most substantial one, was to complete the preparation and publication of the Detective Eric Shaw Trilogy in English. At the end of 2022 I had already published the new translation of “The Mentor”, while, as I had planned, “Syndrome” and “Beyond the Limit” were released on 28 February and 31 May respectively.

As you can imagine, this way the first five months of the year and a good part of the sixth were taken up with all the preparation work, publishing and promotion.

I am very satisfied with the books, both in terms of content and packaging.

Compared to the Italian versions I made few changes to the covers, mainly concerning the font used for my name and, in the paper editions, the spine, where both my new logo and the stylised lotus flower, which represents the trilogy, are visible, with the number of the volume inside it.

Also for these two books, I created five different editions (one ebook and four in print, two of which in hardcover), each of which required some modifications to meet the guidelines of the different platforms. Furthermore, I have prepared some promotional images, along the lines of the one created for “The Mentor”, which you can see in this article.

 

The promotion went more or less as I expected: as long as I promoted the books, they sold well, as soon as I stopped, they stopped too. But unfortunately, this is the case in general, even more so in a boundless market like the English-speaking one.

But it was fun to do a blog tour and read the reviews of the bloggers who participated or I contacted separately: everyone seemed to enjoy the books. I have also followed with interest the various promotional activities, in particular the paid newsletters, among which I obtained an international Bookbub Featured Deal (in the UK, Canada and Australia), which went better than I expected. Looking at the numbers, I was pleased to notice that a good part of the readers who buy the first book then proceed with the second and then with the third.

 

I didn’t expect to repeat the success that “The Mentor” had had with AmazonCrossing in 2015, because this time I was alone, I couldn’t count on the promotional push of Amazon Publishing, but my main intent was to complete the project to have the entire trilogy in English, so as to allow those who started reading it to get to the end of the story. Furthermore, only by having it all in English could I then think of new ways to reach other readers.

In the first half of this year I also tried to move towards one of my dreams, which will probably never come true (although never say never!), that is seeing something I wrote appear on the (big or small) screen. I tried it with the trilogy. I’ve seen some interest in continental Europe, but there was zero in the UK, even though I’d made a lot more contacts there over the past few years. Some producers have even read the first book. One of them (from a production company based in Germany) was even enthusiastic about it and considered optioning the book (or the entire series).

Unfortunately, as you can imagine, since I didn’t tell you about it, in the end nothing happenes. I was a bit sad, but I kind of expected it. Of course, an option doesn’t mean that a series would then be made, but it would have been a personal satisfaction (as well as, within certain limits, an economic one).

And that’s fine: the important thing for me was to leave no stone unturned. I’m happy I tried and I don’t rule out trying again.

All this to tell you how half of 2023 has flown by.
And what happened in the other half?
Well, I wasn’t able to finish upgrading all my sites to make them mobile-friendly.

I’m still working on it, although at least as far as the main Italian website (Anakina.net) is concerned I’m very close to completing the work. At the moment you can’t see any of this on the site as I’m revolutionising it and therefore the changes will only go online when everything is ready. But its general structure is now complete. I just have to finish adding the contents to some pages dedicated to my books (specifically those for the various genres) and fill in the pages for the events (which for now will only contain the past ones), extra contents (some of which I still have to create) and contacts.

Creating the English version should be relatively quick, given that the site will be the same but with the graphic elements in English and the books available in this language, which are only eight out of the total of fifteen in Italian (to which the books by Richard J. Galloway which I translated into my language are added).

Finally, I will still have to do the Italian website of Red Desert and the Aurora Chronicles. The content will not change, but I will simply create an alternative version usable for small screens.

In addition to that, I will also have to do something similar for my website as a freelance translator.

 

What else did I do in 2023?

I have continued to update my old books to remove broken links and outdated information. This regarded my Italian essay on self-publishing, “Self-publishing lab. Il mestiere dell’autoeditore”, which by its nature would require updates every few months, but I’m at least trying to update it once a year.

I then moved on to the English editions, in particular to the books of the Red Desert series. Here, in addition to updating the front and the back matter (i.e. the pages before and after the text of the novel), I ventured into a rereading to try to find some errors that the editor and proofreader missed. Obviously this takes a little longer. However, the first two books have been updated and the corrected versions are now online. I’m currently reviewing the last chapter of the third one, so I plan to finish it by January. Then there remains the fourth, which is the longest, but I can say that I will also be able to complete this commitment in a short time.

 

Among the other things related to publishing that I did this year was that every now and then I tried to put myself back in front of the white sheet, even if with a certain reluctance (to use a euphemism). It was more of an exercise which, in a handful of sessions, led to the writing of the first two scenes of “Evidence”, i.e. the prequel novella of the Detective Eric Shaw Trilogy.

But don’t get excited!

As I told you, I already have the complete outline of this book. I limited myself to trying to turn the first two points into written pages and I admit that making Miriam Leroux and PC Mills (who was not yet a sergeant at that time) argue was fun. However, I don’t know when or if I’ll move forward and I don’t want to make any commitments about it as I’m not particularly dying to do so.

 

Then obviously there is everything that does not concern writing and publishing, or even my job as translator (which I usually do anyway).

There were summer holidays. This year too I wanted to go to the mountains in July. This time I spent a week in Vinschgau (Val Venosta), one of the few valleys in Trentino South Tyrol that I had never visited. With my partner, we spent a week in Schandlers (or rather in Kortsch, which is a hamlet of it) and from there we moved in various directions to visit places such as Lake Reschen (the one with the famous bell tower emerging from the water that is featured in the Netflix series “Curon”; see the photo above), the sources of the Adige, Glurns, Marienberg Abbey, the Stelvio pass (see the photo below), the Schnalstal (Val Senales), Meran and many others.

If you follow my Facebook page, you will have seen the photos and videos. You can retrieve them more easily on my profile on Instagram, also by seeing the highlighted stories indicated as “Vacanze 2023”. If you are among my friends on my personal Facebook profile, you can find a huge photo album (I always exaggerate!).

It was a truly relaxing week surrounded by the peace of the mountains, dedicated to very long (and often tiring) walks in beautiful places, many of which were not at all crowded with tourists. Indeed, when walking around the lakes or taking one of the many routes you most often met local people, perhaps with a dog in tow, and then it was all “Hallo”, “Bitteschön” and “Dankeschön” to greet each other, give way to the other and say thank you. I must say that we were very good at camouflaging ourselves, thanks to our appearance!

And, since I’m talking about German language, I can say that I’m happy that I managed to freshen it up a bit, especially in the second half of the year. I’m still far from the level I was about ten years ago, but I’m starting to see improvements. I also picked up a book (so to speak, since it’s on Kindle) by a Swiss colleague. I downloaded it several years ago and now I’m trying my hand at reading it. I’m going slowly because I don’t remember several words that I used to know, but with the help of the online dictionary and a little perseverance they are slowly returning.

I should do the same with French too, but maybe we’ll talk about it later. One language at a time!

The trick to doing this was to incorporate studying into my routine before starting work. It wasn’t difficult, because studying languages is fun for me (as is translating). The fact that it is also useful doubles the satisfaction.

 

And I was always able to incorporate a bit of physical activity into my routine, which was one of my three resolutions for the year.

I admit that I haven’t been exactly consistent. I stopped several times for a couple of months, but lately I’ve been managing to do it as soon as I get up, to wake up the body, while the head is still a little asleep.

But don’t imagine who knows how much effort! I take it easy, after checking emails and notifications on my phone (still in bed), after eating a banana (otherwise I’d pass out) and drinking some fruit juice. Then I put myself in front of the TV and do a Zumba class, which can last from a quarter of an hour to an hour. Now that the tennis season has started again I will also get back to working out on my exercise bike in front of the TV.

 

And, speaking of tennis, just like last year, this one I saw a lot of it, probably even more. I must say that from this point of view it was a very satisfying season for us Italian fans (thanks to Jannik Sinner and, of course, the winning of Davis Cup) and this contributed to my general good mood, particularly in the last few months.

But I didn’t just watch it from home.

In May, I attended the ATP Challenger 175 tournament that was organised here in Cagliari (Sardegna Open) and, in September, I went to see the group stage of the Davis Cup in Bologna (you can also find photos of it on Facebook and Instagram; see Lorenzo Sonego in the photo below) and I also took the opportunity to be a bit of a tourist in the city.

I would have also liked to go to Malaga for the finals (and, given how it went in the end, I regret I didn’t), but, apart from the fact that choices have to be made (also for obvious economic reasons), there was little time to organise the travel when they finally made dedicated tickets available to fans of a specific national team. The fact of living in Sardinia and having to take two flights, which are not available every day, certainly doesn’t help, and is also one of the reasons that tend to stop me from going to see tournaments around Europe. Often, in fact, the flights don’t exist at all until a few months before the event when tickets for the tournaments can no longer be found.

However, the three days cheering for Italy at the Unipol Arena were fantastic, apart from a certain discomfort caused by the seats, which for a stay of even ten hours in a row can become quite annoying. But for tennis you do this and more!

Well, I’d say that’s pretty much all I’ve done this year.

If you take a look at last year’s article, you’ll notice that I kept true to two out of three resolutions, that of completing the publication of the trilogy in English and promoting it and that of doing physical activity.

Furthermore, I am well underway with the third one, which is the upgrading of my websites. There is still a lot to do here, but compared to a year ago the path is now clear. I just have to keep working on it, one page at a time.

 

What will be the resolutions for 2024?

I confess that this time I don’t really feel like defining a precise list, since I would end up putting absolutely unnecessary pressure on myself.

My goal remains the same: complete that famous list I told you about. I definitely can’t do it in a year, as it includes some long-term goals, but I would like to at least finish the loose ends.

All right: let’s make a list!

1) Complete the upgrading of my websites to make them suitable for browsing on mobile devices, which is the only resolution from last year that remains pending. If I don’t get distracted by unexpected events, I think I can do it (hopefully!).

2) Continue to do physical activity and remove the rust from my German. This resolution is easy, because it’s the fun part.

3) Finally being able to put myself in front of the question “What do I do now?” and try to give me an answer.

Okay, this is a bit generic, but that’s on purpose, also because this article is becoming too long to delve into the topic in depth.

In reality, the question has been buzzing in my head for a while, and some possible answers are starting to present themselves, but what I’m missing is the chance to get rid of unfinished business first so as not to have to tackle new projects with only a few hours a day available or maybe not even every day.

Among the various things that float in my thoughts there is the desire to dedicate more time to writing articles, which I have probably been carrying on since I started blogging in the noughties, but I don’t want it to be a pastime, also because I have no spare time at all. It must be something more complex, with a purpose, a bit like the blog dedicated to self-publishing with which I promoted my essay in 2020-2021. I’m not talking about an open-ended project, as just the thought of it makes me anxious! But a short and limited writing experience, which allows me to write without embarking on a new book.
The latter would require a mental commitment of a very different level, which at the moment, and certainly as long as I have something else to complete, I don’t feel like making.
We’ll see in the future!

As always, I close by heartily thanking all of you for the support you give me and I wish you a 2024 full of satisfactions.

If you like, tell me about your 2023 and your resolutions for 2024 in the comments, here or on social media.
Have a good end and a good beginning!