Getting Ready for New Years

 Started the day with working on a short story for submission to an anthology. It stands at around 1,800 words. I believe the minimum is 2,500 words, so I should be finishing it up soon. 

 Also continuing work on The Foundation, which stands at about 50 percent complete. 

For New Years Eve, it'll just be the five people in our house. This is how we normally spend New Years, even in a non-Covid world. I'm at the point in my life where going out to a bar or partying isn't desirable, anyway. We'll have snacks and hang out. Might have an extra beer or two for the holiday.

I didn't set any New Years' Resolutions. Instead, I'm going to continue to work on the personal goals I've set for myself. I continue to refine these as I go:

Developing my writing Business Plan, with a focus on increasing inventory (titles available). I'm shooting for six new titles next year (between novels and novellas).

Submitting more short stories to pro markets, and indie publishing others.

Continuing on a quest to work out 4-5 times a week. 

Spending less time on social media, and reading more books. My reading has fallen way off over  the past year, and I find myself mindlessly scrolling through social media at times. I used to do the Goodreads' challenge, but found that was just bumming me out and sucking the joy out of reading. 

Making time for some art and guitar playing in the coming year, even if it's only 15-20 minutes a day. 

That's it for me. I hope you all have a good New Year, and that 2021 brings good things. 

Post Christmas

 I'm back to work this week after having last week off. Continuing to work on The Foundation. 

One of my areas of focus is to increase the number of titles I have out in 2021. Ideally, I'd like to do six (some combination of novels and novellas), not counting short stories. I believe that's doable with an average word count of 1,000 per day. 

I got some art supplies and graphic novels for Christmas. Also got some gift cards, which I'll spend on books. My son Matt also got me a cool Mandalorian beer mug.  My lovely wife also made stellar dinners and desserts for the family on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. 

A Good Writing Day

I have the week off from my day job, so I'm trying to get more writing and writing-related tasks done. I got 1,200 words this morning on The Foundation.  I crossed the 25,000-word mark, which isn't quite halfway done. I expect this one to weigh in around 60,000 words when finished.

I started watching Blood Quantum on Shudder and got about an hour in. Interesting zombie flick. I'll try and watch the rest of it this evening.

I have to head out to get some stocking stuffers. I'm going to go to our local CVS, which isn't typically busy. Going to mask up, get in, and get out.  I'll probably wrap some presents later in preparation for the big day. 

Short Story Completed

 I finished up a short story this morning for submission to an anthology this morning. Our dogs were up at 5:15 a.m. More specifically, our fourteen-year-old dog decided she no longer wanted to be in the crate. That caused a chain reaction, and our two puppies were up shortly after.

I decided to take advantage of being up early with a relatively quiet house. Got the aforementioned short story finished and got some more words on the novel-in-progress.

Last night's Mandalorian finale was excellent. I won't spoil it, but my Star Wars fanboy heart skipped a beat. The bounced back nicely from the previous week's episode, which I thought was weak. Bill Burr doesn't really fit in to the Star Wars universe, and I found his character grating. 

We're going to bake some Christmas cookies today and put up our tree tomorrow. Trying to make things feel a little more like Christmas and stagger to the end of this crazy year. 

A Writing Update

 I just crossed the 20K word mark on the latest novel, entitled The Foundation. I have a cover design worked up. I'm looking to release this sometime early in 2021, possibly February. 

The Foundation is a dark thriller with no supernatural elements. However, that doesn't mean it's lacking in the horror department. This one's got some nasty scenes. 

I have two short story ideas I'm getting ready to write. Part of my business plan for 2021 is to write more short stories with the intention of indie publishing or submitting to markets. I'm also going to throw some novellas into the mix, as well.