Well, 2018 is nearly over. Looking back it wasn’t the best year, not the worst either, but it could have been better, writing wise. Although 2018 saw the publication of my first full length novel, I had only two other stories published. A lot of other projects are in publishing limbo, either working their way through the system or stuck because of production hang ups.
This is not unusual. Writing has it’s ups and downs so through the luck of the draw there was just less published this year. As always, the Gods of Publishing always have the final say in these matters.
As far as pure writing I got some good work accomplished but not as much as the previous year when I wrote close to 150k words. So, where are all these words and stories?
Some have been submitted and are in the queue with various publishers, others are filed away for revision (sometimes serious revision) and some were written just for fun and may or may not eventually find a publisher.
Also the honest truth is, I was busier with this year with non-writing activities a good bit of the year than I have been. Sometimes life tends to interfere with my writing. But it’s been a good year that has (I hope) laid the foundation for more published work next year.
Since my last journal entry, I have turned in a long short story featuring Domino Lady. I cannot give away publishing info but I can say I think we will see more Domino Lady books this year. There are anthologies out there that have been on hold that now seem to be moving forward.
I have also been working on stories with my two original heroes. These are a lot of fun but are not likely to be published for a while. I am aiming for anthologies for both Dream Master and my female avenger the Shrike (one of the names she is known by). I already have a lot of Shrike stuff written but am holding them back for the right moment.
Anyone who has read Not That Kind of Girl should realize that I wrote her in the style Walter Gibson wrote the Shadow novels. This means she appeared fully realized in her first novella. She was trained, experienced with a full cast of supporting characters. There was no origin story or reference to it. This too was in the style of Gibson’s Shadow novels. Now, I fully intend to write stories of her early adventures as well as her current activities. In fact I am nearly finished with her original adventure, her de facto origin. I’ll add this to the stack of other stories I have written about her, but don’t expect to see it soon. While I hope to have complete anthologies of her adventures published, I intend to only slowly let out details of her past. So, sadly this origin story will not see the light of day for a while. Still it is a lot of fun to write.
So, what can we expect in 2019? I hope it will be a good year for publication. I’m hopeful that several stories will be published as well as a full length book set in an alternate history world I have created. I have high hopes for this book. Alternate History is a big field in the Sci Fi/ Fantasy genre and I would like to break into it.
Also, I am returning to one of my first loves. While I like New Pulp and will continue writing my favorite pulp characters, I actually started out writing historical adventure. So, I am dusting off some incomplete projects and hope to have some good stories, including novels, ready for submission next year. First among them is my swashbuckling hero set in Colonial America. He is a lot of fun. I don’t know where his first full length adventure will find a home but it will be fun looking. Maybe I’ll submit it to some larger publishing houses. Which brings me to a topic I’ve thought about a lot. How to break into main stream publishing? I’ve got some ideas but I think that is a topic for future journal entry.
So, I bid a somewhat fond good bye to 2018 and look forward to an exciting 2019.
Happy Holidays to all!
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