2009 Reading and Writing Goals - 2009 - First Check In

At the end of 2008, for the first time in my life, I established some personal goals in the areas of reading and writing. As we close in on the end of February, I thought this would be a good time for a first check in. In terms of reading, the goal was simple -keep a record of every book I read so that at the end of the year I will know how many books I have read and be able to choose my favorites.

So far so good, I keep a notebook handy where I faithfully write down each book read. As of today there are six and while it is possible I may finish "Mary Barton" by next Saturday, I tend to doubt it. At that rate I will read about 35-40 books, somewhat less than my estimate of 50, but that is somewhat due to focusing on some longer books - especially "Daniel Deronda" at almost 700 pages. 700 pages of what is not the most accessible writing. "Mrs Fytton's Country Life" on the other hand took only two days.

As noted earlier this month, I want to fit in some lighter reading, if I can work this out so that I can read it along with other things, not instead of as happened with "Mrs Fytton." What seems to work best for me is one work of fiction and one of non-fiction, the question is can I expand this to include lighter works like Angela Thirkell's novels. Another concern is something my cultural buddy, DT, pointed out to me recently. Since the summer I haven't been reading much Shakespeare criticism which is essential for a number of reasons. As result I am about to try a new strategy - one work of serious fiction ("Mary Barton" at present), one of non-fiction (to be decided), a piece of light fiction (the next Thirkell novel) and a few pages each day or so of Shakespeare criticism (Jonathan Bate's - "The Genius of Shakespeare" which I just started tonight).

My first writing goal was to finish the final editing on "The Major League Pennant Races of 1916" which was done on time and the book has now been published. The second was to finish my five team histories for the pioneer project history of early base ball clubs by March 1st. That is right on schedule as I have only a final proofread to go before sending them on to the editor. I find final proofreads very difficult - after reading my own work a certain number of times, it is hard to pay sufficient attention. But I will do my best and then get them off more less on time.

The next step is to finish editing William Lloyd's Civil War letters by the beginning of the 2009 Rutgers football season. In addition to the editing I still have to do some detailed research on Lloyd's lengthy post Civil War life. Once that is done the next step is to take a break from all aspects of book writing and focus on family history in anticipation of a 2010 trip to England. This schedule may be thrown off somewhat by a new project being considered by the New Jersey Civil War 150th Anniversary committee - a book of essays/articles about New Jersey and the Civil War.

Although I am focused on all of this it is hard not to spend time thinking about other book possibilities. One issue is whether to try something of larger or broader interest or to focus on narrower related topics especially those related to New Jersey history. For example, the work on the pioneer project could easily be expanded into a history of early baseball in New Jersey. To my knowledge no such work has ever been written and it should be.

At the same time working on a topic of broader appeal like a major league baseball season was very enjoyable. There are a couple of other baseball topics, but there are other areas of interest as well. I have been reading portions of Allen Nevins' classic "The Ordeal of the Union" to learn more about the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Among other things it brought Lincoln back into politics and it seems to be a major issue that has not had a full length book treatment. And then there is, of course, Shakespeare - a book about the history plays. That's one book that I definitely want to write - something I have been passionate about for almost 50 years - the question is when is the right time.

I don't want to be morbid about it, but I am 62 years old so I don't have unlimited writing time ahead of me. So I have to be intentional and make some tough choices. Most of the time I feel that the Shakespeare book should come next - starting in 2010, but it doesn't take much to get me interested in some of the other possibilities. Decisions - decisions. So I guess where we stand at the end of February is on target in terms of the goals, but with a lot of thinking to be done. A DT time if there ever was one.