My life’s work in printed form.
Inspired by John Guillen’s blog Write me a book, John!, I present my bucket list of all things book-, writing-, or reading-related.
I’m going to diverge from John’s example by including some of the things I’ve already accomplished as a reminder to myself that I can accomplish these things, if I put my mind to it.
1. Meet Ray Bradbury.
2. Ask Richard Matheson to sign The Legend of Hell House. (I couldn’t find a nice edition of it, so he signed I Am Legend for me instead.)
3. Visit Mary Shelley’s grave.
4. Meet Chelsea Quinn Yarbro.
5. Meet Poppy Z. Brite.
6. Hear Neil Gaiman read in person.
7. Buy Mary Roach a drink.
8. Read A Game of Thrones before WHC 2017. (I finished in it Japan 6/23/14)
9. Ask George R. R. Martin to autograph The Armageddon Rag. I took it to StokerCon last year, but I couldn’t deal with standing in the hours-long line and I was too shy to approach him in the hallway. He signed Fevre Dream for me years ago. That will have to do.
10. Find my books on the shelves of the Library of Congress.
11. Finish revising The Death of Memory finally.
12. Travel to Whitby and write at the bench overlooking the graveyard.
13. Go to the National Steinbeck Center.
14. Try the hot springs at Esalen.
15. Do the Dashiell Hammett/Fritz Leiber tour of San Francisco.
16. Read at Writers with Drinks. (October 24, 2015)
17. Become New York Times bestselling author.
18. Actually win a Bram Stoker Award.
19. Visit Poe’s grave in Baltimore.
20. Have a book I’ve written translated into another language.
21. Have a book of mine made into a movie.
22. Go to BEA.
23. Join another writers group. I’m really excited about the TBD writers.
24. Read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. (I’m scratching that one, because I’m still intimidated by the size of the font. But I adored the mini series.)
25. Read Slaughterhouse 5.
26. Speak at a Death Salon.
27. Reach my goal of reading 50 books in a single calendar year.
28. Ask John Crowley to autograph Little, Big.
29. Speak at an Association for Gravestone Studies conference.
30. Join SFWA.
31. Publish a story in Fantasy & Science Fiction.
32. Make a book out of the Cemeteries of the Week.
33. Sell a story to Ellen Datlow.
34. Get another monthly cemetery column. I’m disappointed the Gothic Beauty column came to an end, but I don’t know if I’m ready to dive into another commitment just yet. Maybe if the right gig comes along…
35. Do an Amtrak writing retreat.
36. Teach the Reading in Public class at a World Horror Convention.
37. Get invited to be a guest at a convention.
38. Present my book to a book club.
39. Appear in an anthology with Tanith Lee.
40. Find a publisher for the Pioneer Cemeteries of the San Francisco Bay Area book.
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