It’s rather harder to blog than I thought it would be. Finding interesting things to say in what is more or less a public place is difficult. I can’t very well write remarks about my private life on here for the eyes of people I’d rather not read such remarks. It’s also not a good idea to write about story and novel ideas in case somebody reads them and decides they could do a much better job of it than I could and so finishes it before I have a chance to. And until I actually sell a piece of fiction (and probably for a good while afterwards), I won’t be posting any publishing news or holding any book signings for people to attend.

So as this blog is now just a few days past the one-year mark (almost without me noticing!) I am left wondering what there is I could do to possibly keep this going. Then another literary activity came to mind, something I do every single day, something even you are doing right now:

Reading.

I read so many books in a single year it borders on the insane. Call me a junkie if you like, but books are one of the great passions in my life. Don’t believe me?…

And this is just my bedroom. I have another bookcase in the writing room for non-fiction. There are some DVDs there as well; I also love movies and have limited space.

So in 2011, and possibly for what remains of 2010, I will begin to review books I am reading. I’m especially excited for this since I plan to read a greater amount of titles and authors that I haven’t read before. This year turned out to be the year I revisited some old friends like Neil Gaiman and Dorothy L. Sayers and Patrick O’Brian. I’ve already put together a list of books to begin in January–including one cool reading project that I’ll have to leave for another post. Hopefully this will mean more frequent updates from the blog in the months ahead.

Reading, however, cannot be the only thing I do in life. I have already started earnestly working on a short story which has been simmering in my brain for quite a while now and is finally taking shape. It feels good to at least be making notes on plot and character and themes again, and I can’t wait to begin the tough but rewarding task of forming actual prose. I have the tentative goal of completing a first draft by the end of November.