New Year, New Direction

Some two hours after the Philippines rang in 2013, I found myself perched on a tall stool in a jampacked bar in Makati City, downing a beer and talking about resolutions with a friend. I’ve never been big on resolutions, mainly because I usually fail within the first week. Old habits die hard, you know. 😉

Before taking another long swig of ice-cold beer, I told him that instead of resolutions, I made a short list of goals for the year, goals that I know I can achieve with enough drive, focus and time. (Nope, goals and resolutions are not the same. Read this 2008 blog entry from Gretchen Rubin of The Happiness Project.)

One of the most prominent items on that list of goals is to update The Reading Spree more often. The exact sentence is “Create more original content for The Reading Spree.” This little blog will turn three years old (yes, three!!!) next month but so far I’ve done just two bulk reviews; two pieces on self-publishing that seem to help a lot of writers; several commentaries; visits to several places for bookworms and word nerds; and a handful of link compilations on books, writing and publishing. Real pitiful, if you ask me (or anyone, for that matter). I’ve been a very neglectful “mother” to this toddler.

After a two-week break, I’m back, and totally ready for a much more active role here. Aside from bulk reviews and more book hoarding, there are other items in the pipeline:

  • A local (Philippines) version of my Bookworming In… series,
  • Conversations with industry newbies, main players, shot-callers and vets
  • More Snippets (but of course!), and
  • Commentaries on and reviews of anything and everything related to books, reading, writing/editing and publishing.

Will add more as I go, but for now, those will do.

Time to cross out major items on my list. 2013 looks very promising! Thank you so much for your patience. 🙂