General

Up in Scotland, we take New Year quite seriously. Traditionally, we’ll have a holiday on 2 January as well as New Year’s Day.

I’ve never really been a party person – so my main concessions to the fact that we’ve switched 2023 for 2024 were staying up until midnight, watching fireworks and having moments of self-reflection.

Plus: New Year Resolutions. I’ve always made New Year Resolutions for as long as I can remember and find it a good way of taking stock. What have I achieved? What did I fail to accomplish and why? How can I improve next year? I try to set attainable goals and measure how far I’ve come.

As well as personal resolutions, I’ve also created some book-related ones.

Last year, I didn’t manage to read as many books as I’d have liked. I use an app called StoryGraph to keep track of what I’ve read. It’s super simple to use and I’m excited to think that I’ll see one of my books on there one day!

StoryGraph also creates a fantastic Reading Wrap-Up at the end of every year. 2023 saw me read 35 books, with the first being The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell and the last being I’m Not Done With You Yet by Jesse Q. Sutanto.

I make no apologies for my eclectic taste!

This year, I want to smash my reading goals and enjoy a minimum of 80 books. I am a firm believer that to be a good writer, you need to be a voracious reader. As a child, I could devour hundreds of books each year.

I’ve already kicked 2024 off with two amazing books. The Dark Queen by Dana Gricken caught my eye because of its gorgeous cover. I bought the ebook and I’m loving it so far. I’ve also started the utterly captivating Scythe by Neal Shusterman. I can only aspire to such brilliance.

But my resolutions don’t end with just putting a dent in my TBR list. 2024 is also the year the first two novels in my trilogy are set to come out. That means editing them to within an inch of their lives, choosing covers, promoting, kick-starting my non-existent presence on social media and badgering local independent bookshops to stock my book. Plus more stuff I probably haven’t thought of. And, alongside all that, I need to get the third in the trilogy written. And the novel I started and haven’t finished because I got too excited to go back to Mirrordom. So, yeah. Wish me luck. I’m going to need it.

Do you have hopes and dreams for 2024? Do you make New Year Resolutions? Leave a comment below – I’d love to hear all about what you’re up to.

Hello! I’m Roz MacLaren, which, if you’re reading this, I presume you already know. Here are some more quick-fire facts.

I’m a YA author based in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. I live with a black and white cat and own far too many notebooks.

I’ve wanted to be an author since I was five. It would have been earlier, but I don’t think I knew what an author was then. The first books I remember reading were Black Beauty and the Famous Five stories (which I still read because they’re awesome).

My stories tend to be on the darker side, but I do plan on writing something mature and light-hearted when I grow up. If that ever happens.

My debut novel was accepted by a really cool publisher – something that made me so excited I gasped out loud. I’ll never forget reading the acceptance email and grinning for the rest of the day. The novel is called Venom and Blaze.

I’ll be updating this blog with a host of different topics, including book recommendations and reviews, updates on my own books, tips* for new or aspiring authors (get me. Not even had a book released yet and I’m already giving out advice!) and a smattering of personal (in case anyone is interested. I’m told people like to know the person behind the pen.) Is there anything you’d particularly like me to write about? Let me know in the comments.

*Disclaimer: all my tips will just be me saying what worked for me. There’s absolutely no guarantee they’ll work for anyone else. It was a miracle they worked for me, in my opinion.