Where My Writing Is Headed in 2018

Well, here we are. The great summing-up is done, and now, for the plan-ahead.

To review: Last time, we looked back at my writing in 2017. And despite not submitting works as much as I wanted to, overall, I was pretty satisfied with where my writing is at. Why? Because I’ve remained productive this year. I’ve kept putting words on paper. In fact, I cranked out about 36,300 words of prose. That’s about 7 short stories worth (if you use 5,000 words as the yardstick for a short story). So, I’m pretty proud about that…But that’s so 2017. What about the coming year?

Well, the following are some things I would like to achieve in my writing in 2018. Ranked in their order of importance:

1. Write more in 2018 (as measured by word counts).
As I said, I wrote about 36,000 words in 2017. I will have roughly the same amount of time to write in 2018. But I want to be aspirational about things…So…How about this goal: Write 40,000 words of fiction in 2018.

2. Work harder to get stories accepted.
If I was disappointed in one aspect of my fiction writing in 2017, it was something which had nothing to do with writing fiction: submitting stories. But as this is a key part of being a writer, I need to do a bit better here.

But as I thought about it, I was struggling with how to quantify this. After all, I have little control over whether editors accept my story. But I do control how often I send out my stories. So, adapting an idea from Aeryn Rudel (who has a great blog all you aspiring SFF writers should read), I will submit a story once every two weeks. I will continue to do so until a story is accepted or it reaches 20 rejections.

I would set a goal of once per week, but I know I’m going to be quite busy this year anyway. And once every two weeks would be a vast improvement.

I already have three pieces that are done, proofed and ready for submission. So, it’s just requires grabbing them and sending them along to the right markets. Finding those right markets is where all the work will reside. 

3. Stretch goal: Get my play in production.
One of those pieces is a complete play. It will be one of those pieces I will be sending out every couple of weeks. Now, I know that a play is harder to shop around than a story. And that its submission package is usually more involved (requires a synopsis, only samples of a manuscript, a Bio, etc.) than a story. So, I’m naming this my stretch (extra tough) goal. In other words, I will submit my play to theatres accepting manuscripts throughout the year.

4. Keep blogging.
Lastly, I will  keep blogging. At the same time, I don’t want to make this overly onerous. I want to be able to share a thought, an insight on writing, or some progress I’ve made. But I don’t want the blog to distract from, or worse yet, eat up time that should be devoted to fiction writing. I definitely want to keep my steely determination in the Distraction Wars and not let the Internet or smart phones or idle conversations with strangers keep me from my main mission: writing fiction. And so,

I will post at least 100 words to my blog every two weeks.

That’s it! My goals—my writing resolutions—if you will, for 2018. Simple, easy to understand and easy to measure.

Will I be able to meet my own goals? Or will time management or distraction be my undoing? Will I have self-discipline or will I cave in and go for a walk or listen to a Podcast instead of doing what I really want to do—write?

At this point, it’s too early to tell. You will just have to come along with me on this little journey and see where we net out on Dec. 31, 2018.

Wish me luck! And hope to see you there!

Happy New Year!

,Darius