My Bookish Bucket List

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.

9. Ask George R. R. Martin to autograph The Armageddon Rag.

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 tour of San Francisco.

16. Read at Writers with Drinks.

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.

24. Read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.

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.

35. Do an Amtrak writing retreat.