Around the Word: Another Year, Another Roundup

Happy 2015, writers! Bidding goodbye to 2014 brought the inevitable influx of year-end roundups and articles on how to be a better reader and writer in the coming year. We waded through all the listicles and think pieces to bring you the highlights.

Up for a Challenge? 
Book Riot created the 2015 Read Harder Challenge for you adventurous readers looking to push your literary boundaries in the coming year. There are 24 book tasks total—two per month for the entire year—and the goal of the challenge is to “inspire you to pick up books that represent experiences and places and cultures that might be different from your own.” Tasks include reading a book that was originally published in another language or one written by someone when they were under the age of 25. Unlike many reading challenges, this one is definitely about quality rather than quantity.

National Novel Editing 
Last November’s National Novel Writing Month is over, but if you participated, your editing process may have just begun. If so, GalleyCat’s proposed literary resolution is for you: edit that NaNoWriMo manuscript. To assist in the process, they’ve put together a bunch of TED-Ed videos on grammar, word choice, and crafting stories.

Read More, Faster 
Feeling guilty that you never finished your 2014 to-read list? Head over to Shelf Awareness where you’ll find some short but sweet advice on how to make easily achievable reading lists.

Best of 2014 
If you’re not interested in resolutions or challenges and just want some good “best of” lists, the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and the Washington Post have all compiled their favorite books from 2014.

Looking forward, Flavorwire revealed their “Book Publishing Predictions” for the coming year and the Millions released their “Most Anticipated” books of 2015. 2014 may be over but we can’t wait to see what 2015 has in store.

The Writing Life Rocks

Our friends at Ragan recently published the results of a poll, in which they ask freelance writers and editors what they enjoy about the writing life. We thought this was a great question, and we were curious to know what keeps our Gotham Ghostwriters (and editors) going. So we asked, "What's the best part of having a job as a writer or editor?" We got a lot of creative and informative answers.  

The basic breakdown:

• I get to be creative every day: 5
• I get to write for a variety of platforms: 2
• I help others sound better: 5
• I produce a tangible finished product: 3
• Other (please elaborate!)
• I get to be alone
• I get to meet interesting (and famous) people
• I like seeing my name in print

And here are some of our favorite answers :

"Permit me to offer a quote from English writer W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965), from his novel, 'Cakes and Ale': 'Whenever he has anything on his mind, whether it be a harassing reflection, grief at the death of a friend, unrequited love, wounded pride, anger at the treachery of someone to whom he has shown kindness, in short any emotion or perplexing thought, he has only to put it down in black and white, using it as the theme of a story or the decoration of an essay, to forget all about it. He is the only free man.'" - Harold Gordon

"...when people ask me what I do for a living, it's a kick to say, 'I'm a writer.' Always the same thing follows. 'Do I know your work? Have you written any books?' That I can say 'yes and 'yes' is rewarding. Books are not all I write or edit or direct. At this point in my career I write, edit and direct it all, and I've learned more about such an array of businesses, industries and topics that this in and of itself is very rewarding. I can even talk about hernia repair and medical conditions. Now that's something!" - Sandra Rea-McGinty

"The money, the travel, the danger, and the women." - Peter Roff