New Year, New Goals

Happy End of 2012.  

Well, we survived the Apocalypse, and all the trials and tribulations of the last 12 months. Whew!

A year ago, I set a set of insane writing and production goals for 2012. I was prompted, in part, by the advice of long-term professional writer Dean Wesley Smith, who also had set himself impossible production goals.

At the time, I knew it was a stretch (well, impossible really), but I wanted to challenge myself and do more than I'd done in all the years before.

And I did. Although I fell far short of my stated goals, I accomplished and published more in one year than some writers do in their entire careers.

First goal- produce a book a month, 12 in all.
This included novels and story collections. I had a backlog of many stories, and learned how to put these into collections and sell them as books, producing both ebooks and print versions.
7 of these story collections got published, and my second novel, for a total of 8 books. Short of the 12 goal, but still a great output. Am I happy to have met "only" two-thirds of an impossible stretch goal? You bet.

Second goal- produce a story a week for sale in ebook format, 52 total.
I quickly found that the time and resources to do this was at a level that could not be sustained. You need careful editing, a good cover image, formatting, descriptions, and adding the links everywhere.
I did the first four stories, and stopped, realizing it was more important to produce new material. So I really fell far short on this goal. Am I happy to have abandoned this goal? Nope. Would love to have over 50 stories up for sale, but it'll have to wait.

Along with all that came other writing milestones.

I wrote new stories, and had modest success, with sales and publications.

I finished writing most of the third Zack Taylor mystery novel "A Shadow on the Wall." That'll be out soon.

One past story was selected by Every Day Fiction to be in their upcoming "Best of" anthology.

One new story appeared in the charity anthology Nightfalls, where I'm in with some pretty good new writers.

I was selected as one of "50 Great Writers You Should be Reading" by the national radio program The Author Show.

I'm a weekly guest on WUML (91.5) radio, speaking with host David Tierney about writing.

I've had numerous talks and signings, attended shows, and made many new contacts in the writing world.

All this-- plus publicity-- has to be done when not at my day job.
So no excuses for not writing!

For the coming year of 2013, here are my new writing goals.

Again, from the advice of Dean Wesley Smith, I'm going to shoot for an average of 5000 new words a week, for a grand total of a quarter-million by year's end.

That's the equivalent of four good novels, and 4 is the number of books I plan on publishing in 2013. Still pretty ambitious.

So what are your goals (writing or otherwise) for the coming year?

New Story Collection Out!

It's been quiet here at One Rounded Corner-- because I've been feverishly working-- night, day, and in between.

Finished my story Killer Angel, and put the book Apocalypse Tango together-- a 5 story collection of the End of the World.

A few deadly serious stories, and a couple of fun ones.

It's out as an e-book in all formats (print coming soon)- with an awesome cover.

Sample it for free, then get your copy:
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/164257

A little further progress on my Insane Writing Challenge for 2012.

New Book Out-- Strange Tales

As part of my Insane Writing Challenge for 2012, I've been publishing my stories as collections, as ebooks and in print.

So the latest is out-- Strange Tales. A 5-story collection of magic realism stories, two of which have been published previously. With characters looking for answers, who find out the world has strange things that cannot be explained.

With another incredible cover by the very talented Melinda Phillips. I've been receiving so much praise (for the covers, at least), so if you'd like a professional cover design for your book, email her.

This brings me to half my book challenge for the year. I set a goal to publish 12 books before the end of the year, and we have 6 out so far:
Fables and Fantasies (Fantasy)
Crooked Paths (Mystery/Crime)
Halls of Horror #1 (Horror)
Halls of Horror #2 (Horror)
Jumble Sale (Mixed Genres)
Strange Tales (Magic Realism)

This plus my two mystery novels published from Briona Glen Publishing,
A Memory of Grief and A Fall From Grace.
And my non-fiction career help book,
How to Improve Your Interviewing Skills.

Still a long way to go, but one terrific start. Do you know anyone else who can get out 6 quality books-- as ebooks and print-- in less than 3 months? (Hint: talk to writers who've been doing this for years, and who finally decided that doing it yourself is quite a viable option!)

So have a look, sample the stories, and see if any of my works are for you-- ebooks are here.

Another Book Published!

Worked hard today to publish my latest book, Jumble Sale-- a collection of my first 20 previously-published short stories. Each of these was published in magazines or online, and are now gathered together for the first time.

It's up tonight as an ebook on Smashwords, and is about 150 pages, 53,000 words, for a mere $4.99. Quite a steal, as editors who originally published the stories paid a lot more.

We'll have a print version as soon as I can get a full wrapped cover and proof it.

Woo-hoo! Further progress on my insane writing challenge for 2012.

Chance of a Lifetime

Great post by Seth Godin on the chance of a lifetime:
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2011/12/the-chance-of-a-lifetime.html

What will you be talking about in a few years that you could have done? He's saying we can make our future. Change is good, because we're in a time of flux.

Nowhere is this more evident than the field of writing and publishing.

Dream big, then make a plan and make it happen.

Happy New Year 2012

Hey everybody, hope you survived the hangovers and sleep-deprivation.

I've been working all day, and have finally got two more story collections up:
Halls of Horror #1 and Halls of Horror #2, with great creepy covers (from Snapichic) and top-notch stories, including one from the talented Matt Phoenix, and a joint effort by myself and Tom Chenelle.

Moving toward my insane writing goal for 2012. Hey, why wait? There's a lot to do this year!

Let's have a good one, huh? Whether or not the apocalypse is coming!

First Story Collection Published

Inspired by folks like Joe Konrath and Dean Wesley Smith, who have told us we could now do well by writing good works and publishing them ourselves, I took up the challenge.

Here is one amazing result-- my first story collection is now available! Fables and Fantasies is a book of 5 tales of magic, swords, vampires, princesses in peril, and choices to be made. Heroes and villains and something in between. Monsters, both internal and external. Encounters with the unusual to make you think, laugh, and shiver with fright.

Three stories are all new, and two have been previously published, in Aoife's Kiss and Sorcerous Signals. So hard-nosed professional editors have paid tough-to-come-by-money for some of these tales. Four of these stories are available as singles.

It's a great new world for the writers who want to succeed. No more lottery systems-- just get the work up and let the readers decide! Viva La Revolution!

Another Passed-Up Best Seller

In case anyone is wondering why I decided to enter the world of publishing my own work, here's just one reason...

An excerpt-- "A dozen publishers and more than 100 literary agents rejected it. They called it 'difficult to sell...'"

Yeah, except-- it has sold more than 400,000 copies, and landed on the best-seller lists.

But we writers are supposed to keep submitting to these "pros" who "know the business." Except that they don't have any idea what their business is, as evidenced by the example above-- which is one of many, many stories like it.

"Book publishers are losing ground to independent authors and watching their powerful status as literary gatekeepers wither."

Ever wonder why? Because they run a lottery system, and the most common thing they buy is the equivalent of fast food-- cheap, greasy, same-old slush for the mass market. Very often, they don't know a good book, even when it bites them in the ass.

R.I.P. dumbass gatekeepers who are bad at their job-- they will not be missed.

We writers who can adapt will continue to get our work to readers, without the gatekeeper interference. Viva la revolution!

I'm doing my part- I now have 4 of my stories up on Smashwords, as part of my Insane Writing Challenge!

Second Story Up, Continuing, 50 to go!

Got another story up tonight, "Our New Queen." It's now up, with a gorgeous cover- take a look: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/112243

Apart from being an unsettling dark fantasy tale, it's a testament to determination. The first time it didn't go through, had some formatting errors, even though I used the Nuclear Option. So I redid it, and just got word it went through fine! You sometimes have to keep trying.

So that's 2 down, 50 to go. Phew.

And that's after we had to return a dead Christmas tree today. After we'd decorated it. Stripped it, tied on the vehicle (in the rain) and drove it back. I figured out why it was dead when I saw the remains of the "fresh cuts" the guy had been doing. He was cutting alright, but about half an inch. Inexperience is going to mean a lot of dead trees this year.

Joining the Revolution, Going Nuts With a Challenge

Today I took the plunge, and put my first story up for sale on Smashwords- Froggy Went A Courting:
At a mere 99 cents!

This is where I've really joined the publishing revolution. Do it yourself? Heavens to Murgatroyd!

And the reason is a group of writers who have been preaching for some time that writers have choice, that all those countless hours we spend toiling away might actually be put to use, by putting up our good work so that readers can find it and even compensate us with a few pennies.

People like Joe Konrath and Barry Eisler, with their conversation in Be the Monkey.

And Dean Wesley Smith, with his trilogy of terror:
New World of Publishing
Think Like A Publisher
Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing

And many others. Okay guys, some of us have been paying attention. And we've changed our strategies...

A year ago, I was still looking for a traditional big publishing house, likely in New York, to publish my first mystery novel, A Memory of Grief. I'd spent years writing good queries, researching which agents to send to, and did everything properly. Had some interest from some pros, had an agent for 2.5 years, but still no sale. Years of wasted time.

Then along came a small outfit, a startup publisher, and they asked me if I wanted to take a chance and publish with them. After weighing the pros and cons, I did, and this last Summer, Briona Glen Publishing released my first book in print (and as an ebook).

I was over the moon, but didn't stop there. I finished the edits to book 2 of the series, A Fall From Grace, and now that's going to be out very soon! Two good books published six months apart.
HA-- try that with a big NY house-- if your name isn't Stephen King!

Hey, pretty good, but why stop there? I'd published over 20 short stories, some really good ones, but once they appear, they dissolve after a short time and don't get seen. But the guys mentioned above have been saying-- get that stuff up, folks! Your backlist is a goldmine!

I hear ya! And so I'll put stories up for sale, as singles and collections. They won't be hiding anymore, they'll be read.

In fact, I've been so inspired, I decided to go absolutely nuts. It's because of these guys, I swear!

Dean Wesley Smith was trying to write 100 stories in a year, while also doing his books. Life got in the way, so he couldn't finish. But he proved the method, that working writers can produce a lot if they get over this notion they HAVE to write slowly, and only put out a book (or two) a year.

So I'm picking up that torch and running. I want to be a full-time fiction writer, so here's what I'm going to attempt for the coming year, while I'm still keeping my day job.

The 2012 Challenge

First, the Book of the Month Challenge- I want to put out books (ebooks first, and we'll see about print) to the tune of one new book for every month of the New Year. I can't write good novels that fast, so a few will be novels, and the rest will be story collections. Still, it's 12 books.

Which leads us to Part II of the Challenge.

Second, I'll have a story put up for every week of the New Year-- 52 stories by the end of next year. I've got just 1 so far. Long way to go.

So there you have it-- 12 books, in addition to my two novels, and 52 stories-- an insane schedule.
Since I have only limited time, it's going to mean full-out crazy.

Too much? Maybe. But I'm fired up with writing religion, and a desire to play in the Big Leagues. You can blame it on those guys who've been egging us on to do stuff like this. By way of thanks, I'll be buying their books to support them, even if I'm cursing their names by the end of next year!

So check back to see how I'm doing.
Smashwords and Amazon allow you to sample the work before you buy, so check out the writing.
And wish me luck-- I'm gonna need it!