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!
