Our 2013 Bucket List: Here is ours. What's yours?

We're forgoing the usual list of resolutions today at Mystery Lovers' Kitchen for something a little more, well...bubbly!

Here are the three things each of us looks forward to in 2013, our "bucket list" of sorts. And as with all bucket lists, these things might happen or they might not. But if we could do them, we certainly would. If you have the time, share with us! Add your own bucket list for 2013 in the comments and...

Have a Happy New Year!

ANNIE KNOX/WENDY LYN WATSON:  

2013 is all about the power of 3 for me.

1. I plan to have 3 books published this year (yep, 3!);

2. I hope to lose 3 x 10 pounds this year (so look for more healthy recipes from me this year); and finally

3. I want to take 3 honest-to-gosh vacations this year.  I'm talking a vacation that has nothing to do with work, that doesn't require my laptop, and that allows me to really relax.  Two of these trips are already planned ... now I just need number 3!

LUCY BURDETTE: Wendy/Annie--3 books in 2013? wow!

1. This may sound a little shallow, but what I really want in the New Year is to hit the New York Times bestseller list like my pal Cleo Coyle and some other illustrious MLK writers. TOPPED CHEF comes out on May 7. I know I'm going to need a lot of help and lots of luck to see that happen...but can't you just picture that title on the page? :)

2. I haven't made this announcement public because I don't have the contract signed, but a couple more Key West mysteries are in the works...I'd love to have a lot of fun writing the next one instead of getting all stressed out-- and still end up with a book I love.

3. Following #2, I want to remember that life isn't all about what's on the computer screen so I take time to enjoy the flesh and blood friends and family whom I love.

CLEO: Lucy, thank you for the shout-out, and I can most certainly picture Topped Chef on that page. You have the right idea, too, about visualizing what you want to come true. (We all should do that more often!)

SHEILA CONNOLLY:

This past year will be hard to beat--not that I won't try! Three books coming, including the first in the new County Cork Mysteries series, Buried in a Bog.  Writing a series set in Ireland has been a goal of mine since I first started writing, and it took nearly a decade to make it happen.  I'm thrilled, and I hope everybody loves the series as much as I do.


Hmm, vacations... If I had my way, I'd go to Ireland once each year.  It's a very calming place--when I was there I could almost feel my blood pressure dropping day by day, and after a few days my fingers stopped itching for a keyboard. I'd recommend it to anyone.

But a fantastic vacation dropped into my lap when I was at my college reunion in June:  a trip to Italy.  A couple of classmates have friends or relatives who own villas and vineyards and the like, and they offered to organize a ten-day trip to the Florence area for 28 of us (no spouses invited).  They do all the planning and organizing (and driving!)--all I have to do is show up.  I visited Florence once in college, and never expected to go back. (Want to bet you'll be seeing some Italian recipes here?)

AVERY AAMES a.k.a. DARYL WOOD GERBER:

I love reading everyone's bucket list. This is fun!

First on my list (a girl can dream), I'd like for everyone who reads Avery's books to read (and like) Daryl's books this coming July.  We have a very similar style, though our characters and themes are quite different.  LOL :)   I (Avery/Daryl or Daryl/Avery) will be writing three books this year, too, though the three won't come out until 2014 (guess what my bucket list will include next year??). Extra wish, an addendum to the first --  I'd like to see those numbers double for Avery when TO BRIE OR NOT TO BRIE comes out in February (okay, I'm greedy).

Second (still dreaming)...I would like to feel less stressed, as well, but mine is all self-imposed. I like things to be "perfect" and, for some strange reason - possibly that I'm not superhuman - I can't achieve that perfection, therefore, I "stress." Ah, to breathe and really enjoy that sort of inspiration! Being in a meditative writing state relieves me. So does baking. Perhaps I'll do more of both.  (No chores!)

Third...I will be taking a vacation...with the entire family. I would like that trip to be stress-free and fun. There's every possibility...  Why the reunion? My husband and I will have been married 30 years this June. (He married me when I was 9...I'm 39...still dreaming....) so we've been planning a Disney cruise for a long time. May the magic of Disney make the entire trip so much fun that we have memories for a lifetime.

Last and not least, I'd like peace on earth. I'd like people to accept that other people are different and have different views but that's okay, and that is what makes the world such a fascinating place. Hugs to all! Happy new year.

KRISTA DAVIS:

1. Last year I received the loveliest invitation to tour the White House. I was so honored! Assuming the invitation still stands, I would dearly love to tour the White House this year.

2. There's a place in my life for a new puppy. I'm hoping just the right puppy will need a home at just the right time.

3. I shall conquer Freeway! For months I have been in the process of recreating my entire website in Freeway, which has turned out to have a substantial learning curve for me. This year, maybe even this month, I shall conquer Freeway and transfer my website over. Plus, if I can finally get a handle on it, I'll be redoing the Mystery Lovers' Kitchen header, hopefully with live links to our websites.

May the storms abate, the power stay on, and may we all be blessed with good health. Happy New Year!

LUCY: I knew I forgot something important! I'm with you on PEACE Daryl/Avery! And thank you Krista for all you do to make this blog shine!

PEG COCHRAN:

First on my bucket list is to attend the Malice Domestic Conference for the first time. I've just registered so I *think* that one is almost in the bag!  Fingers crossed.

I'd love to take a vacation with my husband. Italy is at the top of our list, but even a few days away at a B&B in Michigan or a weekend in Chicago would be a welcome change.

I'd love to see sales increasing on each of my books, but that's not something I can really control is it? So...I'd like to have some fun and start a new book that isn't a cozy. I'd love to try my hand at suspense...and if I don't sell it, so what?  It would be fun!

I'd love to come up with a new cozy series that would give me an excuse to go to Europe for research...London or Paris would be great!

And...I'd like to lose the 15 lbs. I gained (without hardly realizing it!) over the last ten years and get back in shape--do more yoga, maybe take up running again and start mastering some kettlebell exercises.

CLEO COYLE Peg, I'll join you in lacing up those workout shoes!

1. I once set a bucket list goal of running the NYC marathon before I turned 30. I managed to do it, but that was a loong time ago. My goal this year isn't to run the streets of New York but to walk them, simply get out of my familiar groove and venture down an entirely new street every week of the year, avenues that I've never before walked down. (And I promise to let you know what I find there, if not on this blog, then in my books.)

2. N'awlins is one of my all-time favorite cities, and I would truly love to get back there with my husband, Marc: between beignets and oysters; the cemeteries and ghost stories; the Zydeco and jazz, I can't think of a better town to eat, drink, and let the bons temps rouler!

3. I have a recipe bucket list that's way too long. It's time I tackled some of those foods that I've wanted to make, photograph, and share for some time. I won't name them all here (okay, I'll name one, Ube Cake!). Whenever I do post one of them, I'll remind you (and me) that it's a bucket list recipe!

MARY JANE MAFFINI/VICTORIA ABBOTT

When 2012 started, my husband was in hospital and not expected to recover from a massive brain hemorrhage.  I had only one plan for 2012: to get him home. He beat the odds (nicknamed The Miracle Man by hospital staff) and came home after eight months and therefore this year, it feels like the sky’s the limit. In spite of that, my bucket list/2013 plans are pretty earthbound.  

 

With two and a half feet of snow outside our door and lots of parks and wooded areas, this seems like a good time to get the hang of the snowshoes we got for Christmas 2010. It’s supposed to burn more than 500 calories an hour.  That’s a lot of cookies. 

We are also planning a slow road trip to Cape Breton Island, hitting scenic spots between here and there. The Cabot Trail is one of the most beautiful places on earth and I can’t wait to travel that magnificent road between the rugged mountains and the sheer drop to the sea again. This trip will also be part of the research for my seventh Camilla MacPhee novel, You Light Up My Death. 

Of course, I am hoping that The Christie Curse, the first in the book collector’s series (writing with my daughter as Victoria Abbott) will shoot out the gate and that readers will love it.

There are many other things on my list, but after I wrote them out, I felt an overwhelming need to curl up and doze.  As they say, there’s a nap for that.

Happy New Year, my lovelies. 

Make sure you read and nap in 2013.

Now it's your turn. Tell us...
What is your bucket list for 2013?