Wednesday, January 1, 2014

First!

Yesterday I sat down to do a "last blog" for 2013, but I just wasn't feeling it.  This morning I come here to find that most of my friends did do theirs, and now I feel like a slacker.  So, instead I am going to do a first blog post of the year .

2014 is going to be great!  That's the closest to making a resolution I am going to get.  How am I going to make it great?  Well, I plan to concentrate on writing some more, and that will focus mainly on longer fiction projects.  I really want to know what it feels like to write a book-length work to completion.

My focus at first will be a science-fantasy project that struck a chord with me, and demands some follow-through.  I have a basic plot, and am working on a outline.  I have several pages of notes, with more expansion needed to really fill the world out.

To that end, I probably won't be self-publishing any short stories this year, unless I write something that just won't fit anywhere.  And on that note, I am considering un-publishing my stories from Kindle, polishing them up, and marketing them to publications that accept reprints.  Not sure how that will work out, but it's an idea.

I will probably write less RPG-related stuff, unless something truly amazing comes along (like if some company asks me to write something).  I don't get to play as much as I'd like, and the stuff I do get to play is someone else's work, so what's the point?  I liked the feeling I got when others bought and used my stuff last year, but it was fleeting, and served as just a distraction.  Though I am thinking about shopping a couple of things I have written around to see if a company would buy them.

I'm also going to (try to) buy less books, and read more of what I own.  I have shelves of good stuff to read, and I really need to get on them.

I won't finish school this year, but by the end, I will be very close.  What happens after that is anyone's guess right now.

Many pieces will be falling into place on the financial front, so maybe 2014 won't be so stressful come bill-paying time.  We still won't be able to buy a house until 2015, but in the meantime we can get things in order.

All in all, 2014 promises to be a better year than 2013.  And for that, I am glad.

5 comments:

Anthony Simeone said...

I hear you on the "no more book buying" front! I have a huge collection of unread stuff lurking in my house. Gotta get on that! Happy new year!

Charles Gramlich said...

I did well at not buying a lot of new books last year, because I have so many on my shelves to read. I do plan to continue that. I think it's a good idea to try and sell some of your stories to regular print publications.

Paul R. McNamee said...

Funny how many of us are in the "slow down the book buying" category. I need to get better about that.

I was good at slowing the DVD buying but then we got a BluRay player, so I need to slow down again. I've been pretty good with music - sticking with digital. I'll probably still get ebooks on sale but at least they're not taking physical space.

I hear you on the novel front. I need to do that myself this year.

Happy 2014!

Adventuresfantastic said...

Yeah, I've been trying figure out where I'm going to put the books I've accumulated over the last few months. I'll address that in my post tomorrow.

As far as novel writing goes, I think that's a good strategy. I need to work on that, too.

BTW, you made my list of best writers in 2013: http://adventuresfantastic.com/2013-an-assessment-individual-authors-and-titles/

Tom Doolan said...

Holy poop, Keith! I'm flattered to be in such good company. :) Thanks!