Monday, July 30, 2012

Moving right along...

The past few months have seen an upheaval in my life which I am still climbing out of.  My beloved father-in-law died after a long illness in March, and a lot of things, including my writing, was thrown into disorder.

I am very grateful for the number of friends who encouraged me, emailed me, sent cards, or just said a quick prayer for me during these months.  It is good to know how many people care.

Things are getting better.  I am slowly getting things back in order.  I've been writing on a regular basis again, not very much but it all adds up.  I epublished a new short story this weekend - "In the Bag."  It's a fun crime story that I hope you enjoy.

As I strive to get things back to normal I hope to do more with this blog then have it be a placeholder for my writing.  I'm sorry for the sporadic updates, and don't even know if anyone is still reading.  But as things return to, as a friend put it, "a new normal," I'm going to try to make this blog a part of that.

Thanks for reading.  Talk to you soon!

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Speaking to high school students and general update

This Monday I will be speaking at the Forest Hill Community High School in West Palm Beach.  The topic?  Writing, specifically writing a mystery.  I'm looking forared to it but just a little nervous.  It will be a lot of fun talking to the kids.  You can see some information about it here: http://library-alexandria.com/Media%20Events.htm

Meanwhile I'm still plugging away at my current project, DEATH ON THE AIR.  I'm also busy reading stuff assigned to me for an upcoming short story workshop. 

Last month my father-in-law died after a long illness.  My family is still adjusting but we're progressing along. 

Hope all is well with my readers and I will try to keep you updated in a more timely fashion.  :-)

Friday, January 20, 2012

Looking back at 2011

It looks like I listed two goals for 2011: 200,000 new words of fiction and 12 short stories.

I didn't make either goal.

My wordcount for 2011 is 181,390 words.  While I missed the 200,000 word mark this counts as my second best year since I've started keeping track in 2007.  I'm hoping to do better this year.

As for short stories, I only wrote seven, little more than half of my goal.  I struggled with this goal, and I am not happy with my output.  If you read my other post on goals, I'm hoping to write as many as 25 short stories this year.  Yes, I set the bar way higher.

Sometimes in 2011 I found it hard to be creative.  That impacted the writing, especially the short stories.  One thing I hope to accomplish this year is to find ways to reignite my creativity.

I did epublish ten short stories, a short story collection, and a novel.  I'm hoping to have a lot more published this year.  And, of course, I plan to send things to magazines and publishers this year.

2011 saw me missing the mark on my goals.  I'm hoping that 2012 will have a different outcome.

Goals for 2012

I've decided to post my goals for 2012 in writing.  I can't remember if I posted my 2011 goals.  If I did, I promise I'll update how I did with them.  Short answer: I think I fell short of any goals I set.

Anyway, here, in no particular order, are my 2012 goals:

1) 200,000 new words in fiction.
2) Epublish 25 short stories/story collections/novels
3) Write at least 25 short stories this year.
4) Begin to epublish my old columns.  I'm hoping to gather them into collections as well.
5) Finish up two novels I started in 2011 and write two more.

That's what I hope to accomplish in 2012.  Wish me luck!