Authors share their reading resolutions for 2016 – now share yours!
Meg Rosoff, author of How I live Now and Picture Me Gone
My resolution is simple, and I’ve already started it. More time reading, less time online. I’ve been trying to read for four hours a day and it makes my brain feel good.
Matt Haig, author of A Boy Called Christmas and The Humans
My reading resolution next year is a simple one. I am determined to spend more time reading books than trawling the internet. I hate to admit it but the ‘book’ I probably spent most time with last year was Facebook. Actually, Facebook and Twitter alone probably consumed more of my time than reading and writing put together, which feels a dreadful thing to confess. So less time tweeting and updating statuses, and more time reading and enriching my mind.
Louise O’Neill, author of Asking For It
I’m going to begin writing my third novel in 2016 so my new year’s resolutions centre around self discipline. I need to carve out the time and the space to write and to stick to a strict writing schedule. In order to help myself do so, I intend to re-read The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. I have found her writing tools (such as Morning Pages and Artist’s Dates) to be invaluable.
Louise O’Neill is seeking self discipline in 2016. Photograph: Miki Barlok/Publicity image from publisher
Chris Priestly, author of Anything That Isn’t This
This year I intend to read more. I actually read much less now that I’m a writer, because I find it hard to clear my head enough to really give the book the attention it deserves. Also - following the fine example of our children’s laureate, Chris Riddell - I am going to try and do at least one drawing a day. Whether it’ll be any good or not is a different matter…
Francesca Simon, author of Horrid Henry series and The Lost Gods
I’ve just finished book 1 of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels and I am wandering around in a daze until I can get hold of Books 2, 3 and 4. My reading resolution this year is not to feel guilty if I read during the work day.
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Nicola Davies, author of The Promise. Her new book Perfect is out in this spring.
I always have books stacked on my bedside table waiting, but I’ve learned to see them as “potential” rather than “reproach”. So I only have one reading resolution for 2016 and that’s to get back to reading poetry every day, so poetry shelves need to be moved to my study. I resolved a year ago to change to writing more bravely and only what I love; I’m not there yet, it’s a long term project but I am making progress.Ive found drawing,painting and taking photos helps. Weirdly, especially on trains.
Juno Dawson - the new name of James Dawson, author of This Book is Gay and All of the above
My new year’s reads resolution is to read more novels in translation -something I’ve hardly ever done. I think I’ll start with Playing A Part, a novel written in Russian about anti-homosexual propaganda under Putin. Last year I vowed to read a more diverse spread; some older novels, some newer, adult, kids, non-fiction, authors of colour and I’ll continue with that this year. I think you can OD on US YA if you’re not careful.
Keren David, author of Salvage
My reading/writing resolutions (might be interesting to revisit these in a year’s time and see what stuck): 1) Cut back enormously the time spent on social media. 2) Read more books that are not YA (nothing wrong with reading YA, but because that’s what I write, reading YA is not as escapist or uncomplicated as it could be. And I read a lot of YA, so it tends to crowd out other books).3) Start writing something that isn’t YA.4) Finish some long-term projects that have been crawling along for more than three years.5) Start some new long-term projects.6) Take a screen-writing course.
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Jackie Morris, author and illustrator of The Ice Bear
As always I hope to make more time to read. I try to start every day by reading for half an hour and end it the same way, ‘bookending’ each day. What I need to really take on board is how this is ‘professional development’. And I want to spend less time on screen in the world of social media. More time painting. Yes. More books in translation. More poetry.
Rae Earl, author of My Mad Fat Diary
I am going to fill every notebook I’ve got. As someone with a hardcore stationery habit this is a mammoth task. The incentive? No more new paper (however gorgeous) till I’ve done it. I’ve already started my graphic novel about Anne of Cleeves. It’s for my enjoyment only. I’ve been mildly obsessed with her since I saw her mullering a Hob Nob in the Ladybird book of Henry VIII.
Katherine Rundell (with wolf) WILL finish the book she is writing this year. Photograph: PR
Katherine Rundell, author of The Wolf Wilder
My resolution for 2016 is to finish the book I am working on, which is set in the Amazon rainforest. I am very excited about this one; it’s the first I’ve written with a boy protagonist. I also resolve every year to read Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. I am almost certainly probably definitely going to do actually that this year.
Piers Torday, author of The Last Wild trilogy
I am terrible at keeping New Year’s resolutions of any kind, and in fact I am still planning next year to attempt the diet I first tried in 1998 but *nevertheless* in reading terms, I would like to read more children’s literature in translation, as well as re-discovering a proper lost classic or two from my childhood in the 1970’s/1980’s. And overall, 2016 is going to be a year of reading rather than writing for me -the next book is going to require a lot of research…
Sally Kindberg, author and illustrator of the Draw It Series:
My resolution! Illustration: Sally Kindberg
Sally Gardner, author of I Coriander, Tinder and Wings & Co: The Matchbox Mysteries
Like means “similar to”. We often use it with verbs of the senses such as look, sound, feel, taste, seem. I always feel a like takes you away from the story makes you stand outside it and leaves you wondering do I agree that it is similar to… etc. So my resolution is trying to use them only as a weapon of last resort.
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Ted Dawe, author of Into the River (banned then unbanned in New Zealand in 2015)
There is one thing I plan to do differently this year. I am sending galley
proofs of my new novel to teen readers (15 of them) to get feed back and
critique. I want to get a sense of what they like or don’t get before I
complete my final publication copy.
Sarah McIntyre, author/illustrator of Pugs of the Frozen North and Dinosaur Police
In 2016, I’m hoping to do a Daily Doodle and post as many as I can on my blog. I meet amazing authors at book festivals and go away dying to read their books. Top of my stack right now are Frances Hardinge’s The Lie Tree (I loved Cuckoo Song), Hamid Ismailov’s The Underground and Emma Newman’s
Planetfall.
Sarah McIntyre is going to be drawing every single day in 2016. Hurrah! Illustration: Sarah McIntyre
Tony Bradman, author of Viking Boy and Anzac Boys
In 2016 I want to work on an idea I came up with years ago for a big series of historical stories - think Game of Thrones but set in the real Dark Ages of these islands. And my reading resolution is simply to work my way through the vast heap of books I laughingly call my To Be Read Pile. I’d say there’s probably about 70 or 80 books in it at the moment…
Steve Camden, author of It’s About Love
My reading resolution is to organise the shelves of TBR I have into a priority order and then work through them systematically, keeping one in my bag for all journeys and platform waiting. My writing resolution is to play more with late night writing sessions. I have become such a morning writer, I want to see if there’s big difference in what comes out when the sun is gone.
Jon Scieszka, author of The Stinky Cheeseman and Frank Einstein, his new crazy new science series
My only resolution is to not make any resolutions.(which means I have perfectly failed already). I want to play around reading and writing... exactly for the play.
Helen Grant, author of Silent Saturday and Demons of Ghent
I am very bad about not reading outside my own favourite types of book! I rarely read anything other than Victorian novels, thrillers, and apocalypse fiction. So in 2016 I resolve to alternate my usual reading with recommendations from family and friends, starting with my two teenagers. I expect this resolution to carry me into the worlds of biography, physics and manga!
Michael Foreman: painting with rainbows – in pictures
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Michael Foreman, author and illustrator of War Boy
New Year Resolution? Same old, same old from as far back as I can remember. Draw or write (or both) every day - armed with sketchpad/notebook and don’t waste the journey fiddling with fancy electronic gadgets - look out of the window, soak it all in, and dream.
Taran Matharu will write 800 words a day until May 2016. Photograph: PR
Taran Matharu, author of Summoner: The Novice
Terry Pratchett wrote 400 words a day for three years, rain or shine. I plan to do the same this year. In fact, I plan on writing 800 a day until May. There’s something about writing so much of a book in such a short space of time that deeply immerses an author in their story.
Philip Reeve, author of Railhead
My New Year’s Resolution is always the same these days, and it involves spending a bit less time on the internet. Time spent online has to come from somewhere, and mostly it’s the time that I used to spend reading. (Also, I find it shrinks my attention span.) The period between Christmas and Easter is usually the best time to take a break, since I’ll be busy working on new books, and don’t have many events to publicise. So I sign out of Twitter and Facebook on January 1st and try not to look at them again for a month or two. It’s like being unchained from a lunatic.
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Chris Haughton, author and illustrator of A Bit Lost, Oh No George and Shh We Have a Plan
I spent the last two weeks over the holidays with my 18 month old twin nieces in Australia. It’s been really interesting seeing how much they understand and what works and what doesn’t. I’ve never spent as much time reading to very young children so it has given me quite a few ideas. So my resolution is to do much more reading with very young children. Actually, spending time with them last year at Christmas gave me the idea to make a yawn-y bedtime book (Goodnight Everyone) which will come out this summer. On this trip we have mainly been at the seaside. They have such a great time jumping in the waves so maybe the next next book will about that actually... depending on what 2016 brings.
John Chalmers and Sandra Marrs aka Metaphrog, authors of The Red Shoes
In the new year, both of us are hoping to enjoy much more slow time: focusing even more on writing and drawing and taking more time to read and reread. In a world that seems increasingly accelerated with more and more platforms for communication sometimes it seems necessary to sort of unplug and spend quality time with art and literature, whether in a gallery, museum or theatre, or with the pleasure of a favourite book or an old classic movie.
Andy Stanton, author and creator of Mr Gum
Hi, sorry I didn’t respond to your request to share my New Year’s resolution earlier… My new year’s writing resolution is to meet my deadlines. Hello? Hello? Am I too late to get in on this thing? *sigh*
How do I get involved in the Guardian children's books site?
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What are your book-based New Year resolutions? Tell us on Twitter @GdnChildrensBks or email them to childrens.books@theguardian.com and we’ll add them to this blog! If you are under 18, love reading and are NOT a member of the Guardian children’s books site, then we have a great resolution for you: join us!
Disability in Kidlit editor Kayla Whaley @PunkinOnwheels
My 2016 reading resolutions revolve entirely around diversity of authors. When auditing my reading this year, I noticed some major gaps. For instance, only 3% of the books I read were by trans authors; I want to up that to 20%. Essentially, I’m resolving to consistently track who I’m reading throughout the year by aiming for specific percentages to be written by authors of various identities, with an eye especially toward intersectionality.
Site member Tashtastic, via email
Mine are: 1. Read more for pleasure and more often. 2. Write more articles in order to expand my writing abilities.
Site member writer on wheels, via email
My reading resolution is to read more diversely - in terms of reading more books by diverse authors, and more books with diverse characters. I’d also like to read more classic books, as well, because I’m going to study English as part of my degree at university. I’m also doing Creative Writing as part of my degree next year, so my writing resolution this year is to find time to write at least once a week!
Site member Confessionsofabooklover
Whilst there are tons of amazing books coming up in the next year that I definitely think are a necessity for me to read, my reading resolution for next year is to read more genres. I’m very limited to mainly contemporary with the occasional light fantasy or sci-fi, but very little paranormal or pretty much anything else. This is a major flaw for me because I know of so much talent in these other genres that I stop myself from reading. 2016 needs to be a year for me when I open up with the genres I read. Even if that does mean reading Twilight…
Site member Orlibookworkworm
My new year’s resolution is never to be ashamed that I read. I’ve spent the last five years reading in secret, with books hidden at the bottom of my school bag and never entering the school library, and I’ve decided that I’m done with that. I’m done with having to be ashamed of something that should never be something to be ashamed of, but that should be something that is celebrated. A love of words on a page doesn’t make you sad, and shouldn’t make you a victim or a target of any kind. Difference should be celebrated by being comfortable in ourselves: and for me, that starts with being proud of who I am, and the books that give me so much joy.
@GdnChildrensBks #newyearsreadingresolution is to not keep going with a book I am asking myself if I am enjoying more than twice.
— Nick Meadows (@nrmeadows) January 1, 2016
@GuardianBooks @GdnChildrensBks I've started last year with all miss Marple's books:)
— Katia (@florsete) January 1, 2016
@GdnChildrensBks My #newyearsreadingresolution is to read more folktales, sagas & mythic stories, & stop cheating by reading ABOUT them! :-)
— Lu Hersey (@LuWrites) January 1, 2016
Love this article https://t.co/SdTvymyADN on reading resolutions. Mine is to find more racially diverse writers, read them and tell!
— Emily Drabble (@EmilyDrabs) January 1, 2016
@EmilyDrabs @GdnChildrensBks Fab resolution! Mine is to read more, doodle more, write more and stop getting distracted by the internet...
— Swapna Haddow (@SwapnaHaddow) January 1, 2016
By email, Christopher Edge, author of The Many Worlds of Albie Bright:
1. Write every day - so easy to say, but sometimes this can so easily slip by the wayside when life gets in the way.
2. Share my reading passions. It’s great to hear when someone’s enjoyed a book that you’ve written, so I’m going to be much more vocal in spreading the word about the brilliant books I read in 2016.
By email, Dawn Finch (YA author and President of Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP): my resolution is to keep campaigning to protect and develop our school and public libraries. Without libraries I would not be a reader or a writer and I owe them a great deal - we all do. I have never met a writer who didn’t have a debt to pay to libraries and as a society we are better because of them. If we lose our libraries our whole society will suffer, and the poorest of us will suffer the most.