This post took an unexpected turn. I was going to recommend you get serious about your goals for the new year by pointing you to a book that was a big help to me when I started freelancing.

I mentioned the book in my own book, I Still Can’t Draw Good Stick Figures.

The book that was such a big help was Goals! by Brian Tracy.

I was going to add that to my Recommended List with a link to Amazon as I do for the other books I recommend.

After a few clicks, I had this. So that’s my list of recommended books in a variety of categories. I own every book listed there in the main window. Actually, I own far more books than that, but the ones you see on that site are the only ones I recommend to other people. (The books listed under Similar Items are not necessarily ones I own, but based on purchasing habits, Amazon includes those as possible books you might be interested in.)

On a totally different note, I’m working on a client project that requires me to use QuarkXPress 7. While I prefer InDesign, there are times when a client or project requires Quark. After using Quark 7 for a while, I still think InDesign is a superior layout tool, but I’ll give Quark credit…they actually included two printed books in the package.

One book is just a quick look at the new additions to version 7. But the other book is a 400+ page guide to using Quark. That’s a big deal. Those of you who have been around for a while remember the days when you actually got a printed manual with your software…especially software that you’re shelling out a lot of money for.

But to save costs, software makers either started putting together PDF books or created a separate user manual that you could buy.

For me, it was just nice to see a company put together a thick manual to go along with their software.

Talk to you in the new year!