Thanks to Loren Rhoads for posting her own bucket list and inspiring me to do the same. A bucket list is a list of things you want to do before you die, a bookish one just means all the items on the list are writing or reading adjacent.

1. Take a course through Second City.

2. Lead a course at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival.

3. Read at Prairie Lights.

4. Go on a book tour road trip.

5. Visit the literary landmarks of Europe.

6. Visit Walden.

7. Get my book tweeted about (in a positive manner) by Stephen King.

8. Be published by McSweeney’s.

9. Celebrate birthdays with Dave Eggers (we have the same birthday!).

10. Read all of the books Stephen King recommends in Danse Macabre and On Writing.

11. Read all of the books Francine Prose recommends in Reading Like a Writer.

12. Write everyday for the rest of my life.

13. Cultivate my ideal writing room.

14. Get a book (or more) traditionally published.

15. Have a book turned into a movie that I get to help write.

16. Visit the Library of Congress.

17. Join International Thriller Writers.

18. Win an award. At this point, I don’t care what kind:)

19. Get a positive review on my book in The New York Times.

20. Read 70 books in 2014.

21. Attend a writing conference.

22. Write the Great American Horror Novel.

23. Be a writer-in-residence.

24. Write a book where all the profits are donated.

25. Write books set in each of the great Midwestern cities.

26. Reach 1,000 blog or Twitter followers.

27. Help develop a Midwest division of the Horror Writers’ Association and the International Thriller Writers.

28. Be an author on Goodreads.

29. Participate in the Iowa Writing Project.

30. Become a blogger for the Huffington Post.

31. Lead a writing group for a prison or juvenile detention center.

What’s on your bookish bucket list?