Archive for

January 2021 – New Year, New Writing Goals

Happy New Year!

It’s 2021 and I know we are all happy to see this new year begin. A lot is going on in the world right now, but I want to concentrate on what my new writing goals are for 2021.

Last year, it was all about my novel. I spent the majority of my time at home writing this book, and I’m still not done. I hope to be done by the end of this month. I can feel the ending coming close. Of course, the work won’t be done after I finish. The real work begins when I step back, look at all these words, and see if I have something worth sculpting into a novel that should see the light of day. For me, the hardest thing about writing this book is the belief that the story is worth spending my time on. It’s been well over a decade since I finished anything longer than 5k. Taking the time to write this book was a bit of a gamble, but I felt like it was time to dig in and write something that would have a chance at a larger audience. Short stories are great, but most people read novels.

So my #1 goal for this year is to finish a polished draft of my book, find an agent, and get a book contract.

Goal #2? Write at least one new blog post a month. I have neglected this blog in the past year and I need to do better.

Goal #3 is to continue to submit my short stories. I want to get at least one new submission per month. I did submit a few places last year with a stories I’m still trying to place. I got some great feedback and strong encouragement to submit again. This makes me want to keep submitting to find homes for a all my works.

Finally Goal #4 is a long neglected one. Five years ago, I self-published a small book of my stories. Since then, I’ve sold at least one copy per year. Although, I wasn’t getting rich, those sales meant so much to me. I’ve read that most people who self-publish don’t even sell one copy, so for me to have a handful of sales with barely any platform is heartwarming. (If you are one of those people — THANK YOU!) I remember two years ago coming home from the hospital and seeing a massive stack of emails. There were a few rejection notes, but also there was a letter from Kindle saying I had a royalty payment. It was a nice bit of news during a difficult time.

So the goal is to self-publish more work. Some of my short-stories as single buys and another chapbook. I also want to make my work available on other platforms ( other than Kindle) and maybe a print copy available too. That’s a lot to do, but I feel like this is something that should have been done years ago. I’ve been caught up in other things (health problems, job loss, other writing, etc.). I’ll always have something else going on, but I’ve got to make time for this.

Those are my goals for 2021. Sound good? I think so. I hope all of my readers are staying safe and I wish you all a wonderful new year! See you in February!