Here we are, beginning another year. I’ve said in the past that I don’t really set New Year’s resolutions for myself. That hasn’t changed. There’s been no blazing return to my every day writing habit, as I find recovery from the holidays to be slow and sporadic. Some days I’m brimming with resolve and motivation and sometimes this grey weather makes it a victory to just get out of bed.

But, like last year, I do have some ideas for what I want to accomplish in the months ahead. I’m dead-set on getting my novel editing completed in time to be able to present it to agents at Can-Con in November.  I’m making good progress, even if it has been sporadic in the last month. This feels achievable despite having a long way to go. It’s not as long as it was, and I’m still feeling good about the direction I’ve been moving in.

One of last year’s goals was to start submitting my short stories for publication. I did really well at that for the first half of the year, but it died off in the latter half. Once I get my daily editing habit back in order, I’m hoping to get my submissions back on track as well.

I’m also toying with a new, fun idea – recording a novelette I wrote as an audiobook. This sprang from a gift of sorts, recording a piece of it for someone to listen to since they’re not a big reader but do like audiobooks. It went over well and I have support to do a proper, professional recording of it. While I have been trying to find a home for the story in a publication, novellettes have a limited market. I’m thinking it might be worthwhile to self-publish the story and an audiobook for it, just as an experiment. If that’s something you’d be interested in, I’d love to hear from you to gauge support for that idea.  

A friend of mine this week also suggested I enter a non-fiction writing contest they know of. My first reaction was “but I don’t write non-fiction”, forgetting I have a blog with 62 non-fiction entries (no matter what the title says). My friend and my sister even offered an idea for a topic when I floundered on that. It’s an intriguing idea and I’m playing with it in my head, seeing if something takes shape.

And so the year begins with the familiar struggle of editing and submitting, but with exciting new things on the horizon as well. I’m very happy that writing continues to offer new things, when at its core it seems like it could so easily become routine and repetitive. I hope you’re all finding new things that kindle the fires of excitement and discovery in yourselves. Let’s see what 2024 brings us.