Well! What a crazy year 2026 has already been. Hope you’re hanging in there, friends, it’s shaping up to be yet another turbulent year.
If all that weren’t enough—I’ve got to carve out time and attention for writing. It’s not easy. And I want you to know that sometimes I have a hard time getting motivated or doomscroll too much and I end up not being as productive as I would have liked. I know it’s something all writers struggle with since this is an independent activity.
So, if your numbers or stats aren’t up to what you wanted or imagined so far this year—please do something for me…Give yourself grace. Let yourself be a little unproductive. This world and your life have plenty of stressors as it is. Don’t manufacture another one out of thin air and put it on yourself. Be kind. And that means, first and foremost, being kind to yourself…Please!
….Alright…with that…I just want to share some things I plan on doing this year in my writing. As always, these are “Epictetian” goals: They are things I CAN CONTROL, not what others (like agents, editors, etc.) control. They’re also often things I’m already doing (so they can’t be called “resolutions”), but that just need a little tweaking or ramping up.
I’m setting them down here for me to be aware of as the year progresses. But if anyone else out there finds them insightful—that’s great!
I’ve broken them down into categories: Writing/editing, submitting, and marketing/promotion. Here they are…
Writing/Editing: Continue My Focus on Novels and Poetry
This year, I’ll be continuing to focus on writing novels and poems. They’ve always been my favorite mediums (as opposed to novellas, short stories, plays, etc.). I’m just drawn to them somehow. And I feel I’ve made my most progress in writing them—and will make the most future progress in continuing to write them.
It’s that simple.
So, my mantra again this year is:
In Prose, 70K or bust is a must.
In “Rhyme” any length is fine!
[PS: There was a slight adjustment upwards in the novel wordcount since I’ve been told 70,000 words in the minimum for a proper novel.]
This means not writing tons of blog posts, novellas, or stories. That’s the downside, but I think it’s the right call.
Submitting: Submit 100 Pieces to Magazines/Agents.
A couple of years back (thanks, Ai Jiang and other writers!), I realized I wasn’t submitting my pieces of fiction enough. I thought dozens of submissions a year was pretty good. And it is…
…But it’s not enough to steadily get acceptances, which is what I want. So, I landed on about 100 submissions a year. This is hard to do if you’re writing longer stories or novellas. But if you write poetry and books, it’s fairly easy.
Poems you can send out in batches. And if you write a novel—you should really send it to AT LEAST 100 agents (that’s what I’ve also learned over the years). Then you just have to get ready for a little tsunami of rejections. Finally, you log them in your submissions grinder…and move on.
So, here’s to sending out 100 things this year.
Marketing/Promotion: Go to Four Conventions, Post Live Poems to YouTube.
I’ve signed up for four writing conventions this year. That’s way more than last year (I just did StokerCon), but with a new book out, I felt it was the right move.
These are the four places you can find me this year:
- RavenCon (a local speculative fan convention) in April in Richmond.
- StokerCon (the Horror Writers’ Association convention) in June in Pittsburgh.
- Imaginarium (a speculative creators’ convention) in July in Louisville, KY.
- Necronomicon (an academic conference on Cosmic Horror) in Providence, RI.
My big stretch goal in marketing this year is to post “live” poems on YouTube. That might mean footage from Poetry Open Mics or just me reading my poems with a background for a visual. This is a goal that makes me nervous but it’s a good way to get my words out there. And feeling “nervous” is good—it means I’m stretching myself.
Two Pieces of Writing I Loved in 2025
Finally, I wanted to share two pieces I absolutely loved in 2025 that had a direct impact on my thinking about the craft of writing—and where I want my writing to go.
The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi [illustration above]
I avoided this book for a long time. Because it was recommended by a lot of business school types as a sort of veiled text for business managers. That was a mistake on my part.
This book, though all about sword fighting which I know almost nothing about, was riveting and, yeah, has nothing to do with business acumen.
I found it amazing because of the extreme lengths to which Musashi evidently went to becoming a sword master (or Sword Saint). The years of training and thinking about swordsmanship come through in these little vignettes he writes:
Where is it best to fight? In a crowded room or out in the open? If you’re in a crowded situation do you use the short or the long sword? Where should the sun be positioned when you fight? Behind you or the enemy? Do you go to your opponent’s left or right? Their head, chest or stomach? Do you stab or slash at them? When and why? What happens if you lose your sword entirely? And they still have theirs? [By the way, try to avoid this last scenario as much as possible!]
For all of these questions he has a succinct answer. And it all seems to make sense and carry the weight of deep expertise. Of years of training and fighting.
In the end, he comes back to one recurring maxim: “Win the fight.” Just win. No matter what.
It really got me thinking about my craft of writing. Just when you think to yourself: “Man, I’ve worked hard at this, I think I know quite a bit now.” Another swordsman, another situation, comes up and you think: “I’ve never done this before—what do I do here?” And you have to figure it out. That’s writing. That’s sword fighting.
You get back into the story, you get back into the novel, you get back on the battlefield. And you figure it out. You learn and learn and learn. And one day, hopefully, you look back and you think, “Well…I really figured some things out.”
That’s what The Book of Five Rings meant to me. What a great little book.
[PS: Hat tip to fellow dark writer Nathan G— for telling me about the manga Vagabond which led me back to Musashi.]
“Out on the River” by Maupassant
“What is it with this guy? How can he be so good? How does he do it?” – That’s what I was asking myself after reading this story.
This story really affected me because in addition to its resonant emotional impact, it left me thinking: “This is everything I want to do in my writing.” This story blends Horror (Guy got his start as a Horror writer, writing about a withered hand), nature writing, and straight-up Literary Fiction. It’s those three things that I want to drop into a blender, stir up, and make into my brand of Cosmic Horror I have swimming around in my head now. I need to get it out into the world.
Horror, nature, literary fiction all in the same piece…
That’s it. That’s the goal.
See you next time.
Until then…Keep Reading, Keep Writing,
Darius
Inside the Writer's Mind 