Thursday, December 31, 2015

2016 Resolutions

The New Year looms in front of us.  As such, there is a list of writing resolutions I want to accomplish before the 2016 calendar expires:

1.  Complete two more books and finish expanding a third.  I've already begun on the last part of that sentence by creating a new act for Schism.  I've taken Acts Three and Four, refocused them, and added a new Act that helps fill out the story.  I expect this to be done within the week.

The second part of this is a little more than it appears.  First, I'm about to start work on a new novel that, as yet, has no title.  We all know that the winners write the history books, but what if someone was so arrogant that he wrote the history in advance?  In other words, what if The Book of Revelations was revealed as little more than propaganda?  Suppose that the Devil didn't play by it and won Armageddon?  What would a post-Armageddon look like with Satan in charge?  Would there be resistance to that rule, and what might that entail?  I know that many will call me a heretic or something blasphemous for going down this road, but if my previous works didn't do that already, I doubt this one will put me over the top.

Lastly, my final work prior to publication will be a collection of short stories.  I've got seven ready, and I want 25-30 before I consider it final.  I think a short story collection will allow me to write several different ideas so I don't get stale.  It's also a different type of writing, so it lets me check other skills.  A good short story collection will let me put out something different for readers as well.

2.  Begin the publishing process.  Although my first book won't be out until May of 2017, I can start gathering things like the ISBNs and putting together the business aspects that will make the job easier once it gets moving.

3.  Sending out more email updates.  I'm terrible at this.  I have a list about 350 people long that have said they'll buy Akeldama, but I haven't written anything to them in quite a while.  I'm sure that those who even still remember me are wondering if the book is ever coming out.  Others have likely forgotten about their commitment altogether.  I need to fix that.  At the very least, I need to send something out every three months to remind people I'm still here.

4.  Get back to commenting on other blogs.  My current job has prevented me from staying as in touch as I would like.  However, that'll change in June and I'll have more time.  One of the ways I need to use that time is to re-engage on the blogosphere.  I used to be real good at both reading other blogs and engaging on them, but that has fallen off.  By June, I'll pick that back up.

Those are the areas I want to work on over the next year.  What are yours?

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