2024: New Year’s Resolutions

Happy belated New Year! This past 2023 was, in retrospect, a surprisingly productive year for me. First, I got back to regularly writing on the blog, and completed most of my backlog of travel writing. I also successfully ran a marathon, finished a draft of my next novel, and—most unlikely of all—got a new job! I’m not sure if I’m going to repeat my marathon experience this time around (it took a lot out of me!), but I do plan on refocusing my attention on improving my German level. After all, learning foreign languages is exercise for the brain.

I still have some trips to write up, such as my trip to Gran Canaria and my big family voyage to Ireland. And I have a great many smaller posts to write about places in Madrid and New York. But my biggest goal is to finish my book and begin trying to get it published.

In my reading, I have all but given up making specific goals, since I am liable to be swayed by any new discovery that seems interesting. However, I do hope to finish both Churchill’s history of the Second World War and Robert Caro’s biography of Lyndon Johnson. Unfortunately, next year is an election year in the United States, and I have a tendency to get sucked into the general excitement—something that is usually reflected in my reading. So we’ll see how that plays out.

Until then, here’s to a happy and healthy 2024!