Closing out 2014, Ringing in 2015

Hi all

Sorry for my absence, but the holidays have been especially busy for me. I hope you are all enjoying the holiday season. I also hope that 2014 has been a productive writing year for all you writers out there.

Here are some loose ends I'd like to tie up for 2014:

* I didn't succeed at reaching 50,000 words for NaNoWriMo this year. I only managed to reach 10,666 words. But that's 10,666 words more than I had before I started. And, I'm planning on continuing to write that book until it's finished.

* I managed to review a few of the Book Expo America 2013 books I have, but I still have a lot more to go. I'm planning to fit in a lot more reading in the coming  year, especially because I'd like to go back to BEA next year.

* I did submit a few stories this year, but nothing was accepted for publication. I'm setting up some real goals for next year that'll improve my chances though. (See below.)

* I DID manage to get paid for some writing this year. I had a write-for-hire project I took on near the end of the year. It was fun, and challenging, and I hope to be able to do more of this type of writing in the coming year.

* I've taken a hiatus from the short story writing course I've been taking through my library, but I'm hoping to hop back into it at the beginning of next year.

For 2015, I have a couple of cool things lined up, which I'm not quite ready to announce yet. One of them involves an anthology I'm published in, but details are still being worked out. (If you hunt around the internet enough though, you may come across it.) The other involves some big plans I'm thinking of related to writing critique groups. So stay tuned!

Now, for New Year's resolutions...

In the past two years, I (erroneously) decided that New Year's resolutions weren't necessary. As a result, I've  not done much in the way of writing. I've since learned that while New Year's resolutions may not be some people's cup of tea, they DO work well for me. Therefore, I'm forcing myself to do one writing submission a month again. I'd like to say that each submission will be a NEW piece, but I'm not putting that restriction on myself this time. I just need to get back into the habit of submitting pieces for publication. To make it a little more interesting though, I'm forcing myself to make at least one of those submissions a book query. So by the end of 2015, I should have (at the very least) 11 shorter pieces submitted and one book. Now that I've posted it to my blog, I can keep myself honest too.

Thank you all for following along this year and for your continued readership.

Have a wonderful, safe, and happy New Year!