2018 Writing Goals Review

Well, the year is coming to a close in a few hours, and I've just spent the day finishing up the last touches on a first draft, so it's time to recap how things went against my 2018 goals. A follow-up post for my 2019 goals will be coming soon.

This year went well, or at least better than 2017 did.


1. Complete the first draft of my fifth Aston West series novel, Before the Dawn. I plan to finish this by the end of September, so that I can work on edits and hopefully have it out to the public by the end of the year.


Well, didn't quite get there on this goal, but did get this novel moving, with just over 7K words written, and a full head of steam for getting things moving in 2019.


2. Complete a third Aston West novella. I would like to have this finished in March, so that I can hopefully get it out in June (maybe in time for Smallville) and tide folks over until the next series novel comes out.


Completed my Aston West novella Stormrunner. Missed it by a month, so didn't quite get it out for Smallville, but it will still be around next year for folks.


3. Complete the first draft of my in-work "Demonkiller" WIP. Hopefully I'll have an actual title for this soon, but I need to try and finish this by the end of March, so that I can work edits after finishing the MaxMcCannor novellas. My hope is to have this out to the public by the end of May, so that I can have copies available for Smallville in June.


Completed the first draft for this one this year, albeit behind schedule (and still don't have a final title). Edits will be a bit down the road, but I'm hopeful to have this one published in 2019.

4. Complete the first draft of my in-work sci-fi suspense/mystery novel. I don't anticipate this being finished anytime before the end of December, and will likely be a 2019 release.

Didn't get this one completed, but got a few thousand words and five chapters completed. Probably going to be a stretch to try and get this one finished in 2019.


5. Finish the final two novellas in the Max McCannor series. Lyn and I have discussed this, and our plan is to plot out the last two novellas in January, then complete the second novella in February and the third in March. Sporty!

Didn't get anything more done on this series this year.

6. Write six Aston West short stories. I would like to finish one of these every two months, and hopefully I can get back on track with my triple-shots (my most recent one featuring Sweet Embrace actually came out in 2015, sadly).

With all of the work on the novels this year, I haven't had a chance to work on any short stories. Maybe next year.

So, sort of a mixed bag this year, but all in all, I felt good about what I accomplished (especially with about 60K words written altogether, and finishing the first draft of a novel). So, on to 2019, and I'm hoping to build on this year's successes.