Sunday, January 1, 2012

Sunday Salon- New Year, New Stuff Going On

Happy New Year!!

So, I'm no longer a bookseller, at least for the time being. The bookstore job didn't work out and I'm back to pounding the pavement in the new year. My last day was December 23. I loved being a bookseller and I'd love to work in another independent bookstore. Some of you know the details; I'm happy to share offline but that's all I want to say in public.

I guess I'm back to reading and blogging until I find a new opportunity. And writing. I've been working on my book sporadically for the past few months but I'm going to use the time to get back to writing seriously and daily, and I hope to finish my rough draft by the end of the month.

Here's my cat Tanya terrorizing my Christmas village. We'll probably be putting our decorations away soon but they're still up for the time being. I plan to light a nice fire sometime this week and dive into my writing again.

2011 was a pretty good year of reading for me. If you didn't see my statistical roundup you can click here. I finished the Europa Challenge just in time, and look forward to continuing with it in 2012. V. S. Naipaul's boring In a Free State derailed my attempt at the Booker Challenge last year but I'm getting back on track with Stanley Middleton's Holiday this month. I'm determined to finish Little, Big soon as well. I'm reading The Russian Passenger, a German crime novel, for something light and entertaining right now, too. The author is Gunther Ohnemus and it's published by Bitter Lemon Press.

Today we have relatives visiting and I expect I'll be kept busy hanging out with them, shopping and enjoying their company. I think the plan is brunch and then who knows. Happy New Year! I hope 2012 is filled with wonderful books and bookish events, friendships and more.

More Sunday Salon here.

19 comments:

picky said...

Happy New Year! And good luck to you in your writing and career ambitions. I took down almost all of Christmas today but couldn't bear to take down my Christmas tree yet...

Unknown said...

Hi Marie,

Thanks for dropping by my blog the other day and saying how much you liked it -- it really lifted my spirits. Real encouragement is a very rare commodity in the online universe I've found during all these years I've been involved in it, so your generous words were not lost on me.

I'm really really sorry to hear about your book selling job. Damn. Though as you allude, hopefully it's a just a detour directing you toward something even better. I do remember your mentioning many months ago you were at work on a novel; well, here's a new year's toast to your kicking some serious ass on it in the new year! If it's half as good as your blog, how can it not find a future audience?

Best of luck to you and Happy New Year,

Brent

Mystica said...

A Happy New Year and I do hope you have luck with both your writing and your job.

bermudaonion said...

Sorry to hear the job didn't work out, but I'm sure the right job will come along. Happy New Year!

Anonymous said...

I probably can relate as I tried a bookstore job and didn't work for me either, but needless to say, I'm working at a library now and am happy. I hope you'll be happy too in the new year in whatever you do. At least, you make us happy with your posts as I just referenced one in my most recent Sunday Salon post. Keep up the good "work" here and best of luck in finding new opportunities in the new year.

Col (Col Reads) said...

Happy New Year, Marie. Hoping 2012 brings you lots of new opportunities to read, work, and watch great movies!

Bonnie said...

Good luck finding another job Marie..sorry to hear that the book store job didn't work out. It will just give you more time to work on your writing, reading and blogging, that's a good thing! All the best in the new year

Sandy Nawrot said...

Ack! I didn't know about the job. Sorry to hear that, but life is too short to spend it in a job you don't enjoy. DM me on Twitter and let me know what happened...I'm curious. I wish you luck on the book and finding the dream job!

Booksnyc said...

Happy New Year, Marie! Here's to a new year filled with much creativity and wonderful career prospects.

Naomi said...

Marie, I've given you a Versatile Blogger award. See details here: http://poeticaperture.com/2012/01/01/the-versatile-blogger-award/
Congrats and Happy New Year!
Naomi

Alexia561 said...

Sorry to hear that the bookseller job didn't work out. I loved so many parts of that job, but the bad ultimately outweighed the good and I had to give it up too. Here's to a great 2012 full of exciting new opportunities!

Love the picture of Tanya! Cats seem to prefer being where we don't really want them, don't they?

Cheers!

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry the job didn't work out. Here's wishing you a New Year filled with better things!

Dawn @ sheIsTooFondOfBooks said...

Happy New Year to you, Marie!

I'm sorry this particular position didn't work out for you, but I'm confident you'll find a better fit. You have the heart and soul of a bookseller, and any shop will be lucky to have you!

Kathleen said...

Sorry to hear that the job didn't work out for you but I suspect that a new and exciting position will be yours in 2012! Good luck with your job search.

Vasilly said...

I'm so sorry to hear that your job didn't work out. I know how excited you were about working there. How's Little, Big so far?

Happy New Year!

Michelle said...

I'm sorry to hear that things didn't work out at the bookstore. I hope you can find your dream job soon! In the meantime, good luck with your writing!

Happy 2012!

Jeanne said...

Love the size of the cat compared to the village! And the silver lining of you getting to write more.

Anna said...

Sorry the job didn't work out. Hopefully your dream job is right around the corner! :)

Anonymous said...

I loved my years at the bookstore but got burned out at year 5. Now I'm ready to go back but am enjoying mommy time. Hopefully it didn't sour you for other bookstores. I find the people I worked with were some of the coolest people and I'm still friends with lots of them almost 13 years later!