New Year Resolutions Writer Style

Welcome to the second day of the New Year. Hopefully, the hangover has worn off by now and you're staring at the list of resolutions you scribbled whilst judgment impaired by the adult beverage of your choice. Yeah, I don't (can't) drink, either, but work with me. I need an excuse for looking askance today at the unreasonable promises I made yesterday. The first item on my list: Move to Hawaii. Lovely thought. It misses a really vital step: Win the lottery. Because that is the only way I'd be able to afford a move to the islands. The second item on the list: Learn to love the cold is just laughable. A couple of years in Iceland when I was a kid cured me of cold forever. All I do is whine. Is it too much to ask to live someplace where making contact with the toilet seat isn't akin to planting my tender butt on a block of ice? It's 21 degrees outside and one of the radiators died a cowardly death. It has yet to be replaced because who wants to go outside in this nonsense? Which brings me to my next resolution: Go cold turkey on complaining. Yeah. Banner start to the resolutions.

Kidding. Don't do resolutions. I prefer goals. Minor difference of semantics, maybe, but resolutions seem so absolute. Goals get broken down into actionable steps. And when we talk about how my writing will change over the coming year, I can talk about how I aim for deeper POV, characters who follow you around your house for days after you read their stories, and maybe even a little angst, they're goals I really can't measure or control - they're a learning process that will take whatever time they're going to take. What I can control are these:

1. Finish what I start. No. You don't understand. This is a serious thing for me. I started five things this year. I finished two. Wait. No. I started eight things this year. Finished two. Sure. Those two things were novels. But seriously. That start/finish ratio? MUST get better. (The measureable goal: The equivalent of three novels this year. I'm asking myself for 300,000 finished words this year - first drafts accepted.)
2.z <-- This was the cat's input. One thing I can safely say won't change? Feline editorial input.
MY #2: Genres. More of 'em. We've got yer scifi, yer urban fantasy, yer sword and sorcery, and coming soon to a venue near you, contemporary romance and possibly historical fantasy. Already underway. Assuming proposals don't get kicked back in my face accompanied by the music of mocking laughter.
3. Finishing that which was started many long years ago. I started with scifi. I got stalled in the middle of a series. That series wants to be finished. Book three is half done. It's rattling its chains in my dreams at night. So it looks like this year will be a form of old home week. All year long. (The measurable on this one is a completed book three. It will count as one of my three novels for the year IF I get it done the way I want.)

Do you set goals for the new year, writing or otherwise? Why or why not? What helps you stay on track? That's, you know, legal.

Looking Out at 2015

Here we are in the new year, and needless to say, 2015 is a year I'm very excited about.  Mostly for the hoverboards and flying cars, which I'm assured will be available in the next nine months. 
Of course, I'm also excited to have two books coming out in February and July. 
So, what are the plans and goals for 2015, beyond launching two books?  How am I going to push myself?  Because this is far from the time to rest on my laurels.
First, I'm going to finish my space opera novel Banshee.  This one has been a long time coming, and it took me years to figure out what the story needed to be.  Almost everything in my original conception, save the central character, is completely different.  Lt. Kengle is the only constant. With that done, I can officially call myself a fantasy and science fiction novelist.  Plus, I'll finish the rough draft of Murder of Mages II, and we'll get the gears turning on getting Holver Alley Crew and Way of the Shield out in the world.  Because, frankly, now that my foot is in the door, I fully intend to go through, no matter what.
Second, I've been experimenting with an idea for something short-form and serialized.  It's still very much in its nascent stages.  Obviously, this is on the backburner compared to getting the bigger projects done.  (Especially if I'm asked to also do Thorn III and Murder III.  Are they already outlined?  Yes, of course they are.)  But it's a neat idea that I'm starting to crack the spine of.
Thirdly, I want to up my game in terms of paying-it-forward.  Of course, this year I'll be running the ArmadilloCon Writers' Workshop, but I'm contemplating ways to do more beyond that.  Still thinking about what I can do. 
So, here's to 2015 being a fruitful and successful year, and I hope the same for all of you. 

3 Ways & My Writing

Three ways. Well, that's a fun topic for a bordello!  What? No? Keep reading? ...  Oooh.  

Three Ways My Writing Will Change in 2015

Well, that's nowhere near as much fun for you, dear readers, but for me? Might be, or it could be a big flaming disaster that leaves me curled in the fetal position around a case of whiskey.  'Course, if I push myself enough, success could still bring that case of whiskey...and a straw.


 1.   Dragons
Yep. I'm going to go there. I'm going to write a dragon trilogy. Oh, no, no. Not all three books in the same year (remember, slooooow writer here).  But that first one? Oh yeah, totally going to happen. Whether or not it actually gets published next year is a different story.

2. Sequels
That self-pubbed fantasy I keep talking about releasing in Q1 next year? It's the first of four in that series. I really hope I like my protag and her Scooby-gang, 'cause we're going to be together for a while. Oh, and the thing about Indie Authoring? Readers have an expectation of multiple releases happening in a year. If I can release three, I'll be giddy. My editors might run away screaming.


3. Monsters
Book 2 in that self-pubbed series involves monsters. Not people behaving abhorrently or vampires, I mean Monsters, with a capital "M." I haven't attempted a Afanc-meets-Cthulu before. We'll see if I can pull it off.

Cheers to a merry and prosperous new year!