2024 Writing Goals

Well, things didn't go so well through 2023. Working to get some things done in 2024. Here are my goals:

1. Complete the first draft of my fifth Aston West series novel, Before the Dawn. I am currently at about 35K words. I have a good idea of the path I want the story to take, so now it's just a matter of getting the writing done. However, this will likely take a back seat to my Demonkiller novel below (unless I run into blocks on that one).

2. Complete the first draft of Tempted, the second title in my new Demonkiller series. I am now at 33K words on this one, and the plot is coming together nicely. This will likely be my primary focus for this year, since I only have the one title in this series (sorry, Aston fans).

3. Re-publish and re-brand my two short story collections, Dead or Alive and Dirty Dozen. Have not looked ahead to the convention schedule for this year (some ended their runs this past year, so things may look a bit different), but hoping to have them available soon.

4. Write four new Aston short stories (one per quarter). Wanting to work these back into the goal rotation, so that I can get some accomplishments (hopefully) completed.

Here's hoping I can work to complete these goals this year.

2023 Writing Goals Review

Well, sometimes life gets in the way, and 2023 was one of those years. My father passed away in June, and that same weekend started my new (second) job as an Associate Pastor for a local church after nearly 23 years at our former church as a layperson. This involves a lot of classwork as I work toward ordination in our denomination, reading textbooks, writing papers and such. But due to other circumstances in my new position, I've also been tasked with a fairly regular cadence of developing lessons and sermons, so that has been good for working up my writing cadence, but had no effect on my original writing goals. Nearly five months after that, I changed positions as my first job so there has been a bit of a learning curve and stresses involved in that. Then, earlier this month, my wife had knee replacement surgery and so the last half of this year was a bit of a struggle all-around on the fiction writing front. Hoping to get back on track in 2024 (new goals post coming a little later), but here is how things compared to my goals for 2023:

1. Complete the first draft of my fifth Aston West series novel, Before the Dawn.

Work on this novel has been at a virtual standstill, as I have been focusing most of my limited availability on finishing my second Demonkiller novel. I have only gotten another 5K words this year, for a total of 35K. 

2. Complete the first draft of Tempted, the second title in my new Demonkiller series. I am only at 20K words on this one, but have a rough plot outlined for this one. Hoping to be able to sit down and get the writing done on this one as well.

Progress on this novel has been a bit more promising, with another 13K words completed here, for a total of 33K. I do have a pretty good plot forming on this one, so I'm hopeful to continue progressing on this in the coming year.

3. Re-publish and re-brand my two short story collections, Dead or Alive and Dirty Dozen. Not sure what my convention schedule for this year is going to look like, but hoping to have them available in the near future.

I didn't get a thing done on this other than mention it to my cover artist. I'm hoping that I get motivated to finish these in time for whatever my first convention of 2024 ends up being. 

4. Not part of my original goals for 2024 (I try not to place goals out that rely on other individuals to complete), but Lyndon Perry and I were able to complete the third and final installment (Eureka) of the Max McCannor young adult/alternate history/steampunk series this year. If you haven't already checked out the earlier books in this series, or if you have read the others and need to catch the final title, check them all out. 

Here's hoping that I can get a little more time to finish my goals this coming year.

2023 Writing Goals

Well, things were going well, writing-wise, through most of 2022. Hoping to get some more momentum going on these, so here are my goals for 2023:

1. Complete the first draft of my fifth Aston West series novel, Before the Dawn. I am currently at about 30K words. I have a good idea of the path I want the story to take, so now it's just a matter of getting the writing done.

2. Complete the first draft of Tempted, the second title in my new Demonkiller series. I am only at 20K words on this one, but have a rough plot outlined for this one. Hoping to be able to sit down and get the writing done on this one as well.

3. Re-publish and re-brand my two short story collections, Dead or Alive and Dirty Dozen. Not sure what my convention schedule for this year is going to look like, but hoping to have them available in the near future.

Here's hoping that I can get some time to complete these goals this year.

2022 Writing Goals Review

Well, 2022 was a fairly productive year, although with two novels in work, not a lot was completely finished. Combine that with work stresses and several items around the house that needed to be addressed, it was good that I could get some work accomplished on the goals that I did. Here's the recap for how things went against my 2022 goals.

1. Complete the first draft of my fifth Aston West series novel, Before the Dawn. 

Didn't finish the first draft of this novel, but I have been working on it throughout the year. Now up to around 30K words and have a good handle on the direction I want to take it, including the ending! 

2. Complete the first draft of my second title (Tempted) in my new Demonkiller series.

Didn't finish the first draft of this novel, but like Before the Dawn, I have been working on it throughout the year. Will be interesting to see which of these novels ends up finished first. Now up to around 20K words.

3. As the rights from Dead or Alive have been returned to me, it's time to re-publish and re-brand my two short story collections. 

Didn't get this finished this year. No excuse, just didn't.

A follow-up post for my new goals will be coming soon. Hoping to gain a little momentum and have 2023 be an even better year.

"Turnabout" is Fair Play

 It has been a great long while since I've posted, and even then, most of those had been my regular writing goals posts (end of the year posts are coming soon). But I'm happy to announce that my latest Aston short story "Turnabout" will be published soon in a magazine. It has been over a decade (11-12 years?) since my last official magazine publication, so pretty excited about that. Will let everyone know when it comes out (e-published and print both).

Readers of my very first short story "Little White Truths" (in the now-defunct Ray Gun Revival, issue #33 - also re-printed in the Aston short story collection Dead or Alive) will be in for a special treat with this one. It's been over 15 years since that one came out for the first time, so if you've forgotten the story, go back and re-read it in preparation for the new story arriving.

2022 Writing Goals

Well, I neglected to put out a set of goals in 2021, and almost did the same here in 2022. I guess it's only a month late (not making excuses, but the past month or so has been a train wreck, health-wise). Here they are:

1. Complete the first draft of my fifth Aston West series novel, Before the Dawn. I have several chapters written on this one, so I am expecting to finish this goal. That said, I have been "pantsing" this story, which has not turned out that well for me so far (Some good material, but it seems to be wandering a lot with no real direction).

2. Complete the first draft of my second title (Tempted) in my new Demonkiller series. I do have a rough plot outlined for this one, so planning to flesh that out a bit more, and then start in on the draft. Stretch goal will be to get it published this year, but we shall see how things go the next few months.

3. As the rights from Dead or Alive have been returned to me, it's time to re-publish and re-brand my two short story collections. Planning to get that done this year as well. Perhaps in time for Air Cap in November.

Completely doable, so now it's just a matter of bearing down and getting on these goals.

2021 Writing Goals Review

As I came back to my blog, I realized that I never did set up goals for 2021, but since I didn't do much in 2020 anyway, I'll just base my review on my 2020 goals. Hopefully I will come back and set up a new post for my 2022 goals before long.

1. Publish my fifth Aston West series novel, Before the Dawn.

Still didn't do much on this novel, but I have started to work on getting some momentum the past month, so hopefully I can get that rolling this next year.

2. Publish my in-work "Demonkiller" WIP (which still needs a title).

I did actually complete this one, publishing my new novel Chosen around Halloween this past year. I have started on a general plot for book two, tentatively entitled Tempted.

 
 

 
3. Complete the first draft of my in-work sci-fi suspense/mystery novel. .

Didn't write a single word on this novel this year, and likely will drop it from next year's goals, since I'll be focused on the other two novels mentioned above.

4. Write two more Aston West short stories and publish another triple-shot.

Didn't get anything more written on any Aston short stories. I may want to think about working some of these, to get back into Aston's world while trying to gain momentum on the next novel.

Here's to 2022 being a good year.

Shell Games Excerpt

With recent national events, it seemed as good a time as any to dust off an old excerpt from my short story "Shell Games" for your perusal. Want to check out the full story? Catch it as part of the Dead or Alive collection from ResAliens Press!

The hatch slammed shut before I’d even finished, leaving me no choice besides pushing my way through the thickening crowd. Sadly, they had no manners and my legs ended up getting hit so many times I lost count.

Along the edge of the corridor, near the outer hull, a middle-aged man jumped atop a platform. “Ladies and gentlemen, I ask for but a few moments of your time.”

Many had come specifically for this show, or whatever it was. At least they seemed to, since everyone stopped right in place, making it tough for me to keep moving.

“Are you tired of scrounging for meals to eat, a bed to sleep in, a job to find and keep?” Heads in the crowd nodded, while some in the audience verbalized their agreement. It only bolstered the speaker’s rhetoric. “Well, I have a proposal which will give you all three in one!”

His comments stank as if they’d come from a used starship salesman and made me scramble for the exit. “Sign up now, and you’ll never have to worry about any of that ever again.”

The crowd erupted. I turned and watched him yank an electronic pad from his belt as several drew closer to the elevated stage. They lined up to stamp their thumbprint on whatever he was offering. Then the deal-maker directed them toward a corridor where I presumed his ship was docked. Every single one of them sprinted off toward the paradise presented.

I shook my head and continued on my way. Some people were just naive. These types of offers weren’t made out of the goodness of one’s heart.

“You there!”

My eyes went wide, but I kept moving. I knew better, but wanted to assume the slimeball wasn’t addressing me.

“Grab him!”

Now past the outskirts of the main crowd, I picked up my pace. Before I made it through the emergency bulkhead hatch, a bald, muscle-clad enforcer blocked my escape.

“I’m leaving.” It wasn’t a request for permission, but a statement of fact. I only wished I’d broken the rules, both the station’s and my own, and had my Mark II blaster on me. From the look on this beast’s face, it didn’t look like this behemoth and I were going to be getting along all too well.

His bronzed face sneered as he grumbled. “You’re staying.”

“If you think so...” I continued forward, but he shoved me back. Anger boiled up through my body, tempered only slightly by the tinges of pain running through my leg.

“Local ordinance says you have to stand here and listen until he’s finished.”

I narrowed my eyes, but the confidence on his face told me it wasn’t deception. And it always amazed me how people wondered why I despised politicians.

“Bring him up!”

I turned and stared down the leader of this mess with a growl. “I suppose there’s a law that says I have to?”

“You catch on fast.” The enforcer put his meaty paw on my arm, and I jerked away. Hobbling up toward the leader of this sideshow didn’t stop the beast from following every step I took.