After he’d gone and I’d secured the deadbolt, I opened the box to discover this:

It’s the galleys for Chocolate & Vicodin: My Quest for Relief from the Headache that Wouldn’t Go Away! A galley is a bound edition of an uncorrected proof of the book. That means that not all the typographical or formatting errors have been fixed as they will be in the final edition. The galleys are published with the actual cover on the front and a promotional pitch on the back that features a summary, favorable blurbs, author information, and contact information for the publicity department of the publisher. They’re sent to magazines, libraries, and booksellers in advance of the publication date to stir up publicity and give reviewers enough lead time to review the book. Right now is the time when most magazines are planning their February/March editions, so sending them a galley now allows them to include it in the edition of the magazine that will be out when the book is released.

Now, I want to preface this next bit by saying that I’m a supporter of digital books. I love that they’re lightweight, easily searchable, annotatable, and less clunky than a big, heavy box of books that make your knees hurt when you carry them up the stairs during your interstate move. I’m not upset that printed books will most likely become less common as more and more people adopt the digital format (assuming that the author’s royalty remains a fair percentage). All that said, I really, really, really, loved opening the box and catching the distinct scent of books inside. When I picked up a galley, I could smell the freshly cut paper and ink. I even started sniffing the spine, I was so infatuated with the sweet publisher’s perfume. And when I held the book in my hands, I loved sliding my fingers across the glossy coating of the cover. It’s a real live dead book! So, yes, I still think digital books are the wave of the future and I’m not upset about it, but even a tech girl like me is not immune to the seduction of a printed book, particularly when it’s my own.

1) Promote my book as well as I can.

2) Meet new people and nourish current relationships.

3) Secret goal I’m not going to blog about.

I set three goals because I read that is the number of goals you can realistically achieve in a year. Many people fail to reach their goals because they try to do eight things at once. They want to keep their house clean and lose weight and organize their finances and become the Parcheesi world champion and get a promotion and learn to sew and volunteer more in their community and invent a cloning machine, because that final task is the only way you will ever be able to make so many changes in a year. There is only so much time, so it’s better to pick three big tasks and concentrate on those. It increases the likelihood that you will actually accomplish them. So, I typed my three goals, printed them out, and taped them above my desk so I could see them every day. (Then I realized that visitors could see these goals, so I moved them to the bedroom because I am secretive like that. And now I’m blogging about them publicly because I’m weird like that.)

I’m surprised to say, this has actually worked.

1) Promote my book as well as I can

I’m ready to cross this one off. Mission accomplished, no big banners on aircraft carriers necessary. I worked my ass off promoting Half-Assed: A Weight-Loss Memoir. I built a book site, planned a book party, tried some creative promotions, and did press in TV, radio, and print. I had my last scheduled radio interview last week, so my promotional work for the book is basically done. I’ll be happy to take any future opportunities to talk about it, but the big push is over and it went very well. No regrets.

2) Meet new people and nourish current relationships

I am a homebody and a bit of a loner, but I know that it’s important to make new friends for personal fulfillment, for business reasons, and just because new people can be damn interesting. I also hear having friends makes you live longer and be healthier, so it’s in my best interest not to sit alone in my apartment all weekend. However, I knew I would never do this naturally on my own, so I made it an official goal.

It didn’t start out so well. I joined a running group to train for my half-marathon and promised to talk to three new people every week, but eventually chickened out on that front.

I got better though. Some days I wanted to get work done on various projects, but a friend or family member would invite me to do something. My first instinct was to say no so I could make progress on my projects, but then I would remember goal #2 and decide to go out. By making it an official goal, I felt less guilty making the choice because I wasn’t really ditching my project, I was choosing to work on the other project of being social.

I’ve made new friends at my new job. I also attended the BlogHer conference and the Blog Indiana conference, where I met tons of new people. I’m checking up on new blogs and I have a lot more social connections now than I did at this time in January. I’m making great progress on this goal and hope to keep it up.

3) Secret goal I’m not going to blog about.

This one is sort of personal, so I’m not going to blog about it. I’ve only really started to work on it in the past month or two and it’s still in the beginning phases. Things are going well, though.

The three-goal system has worked out pretty well for me, so I’m going to try to do this every year. It’s good to assess my life annually, look at where I am, and figure out where I want to be. Many people wonder why they can never get big stuff done, but if you work a little everyday towards the things you want, you can make progress. There are still days when I feel like I’ve gotten nothing done and I’ll never get where I want to be. But other days I do get a little bit ahead, and eventually all those little bits add up to something bigger.