Happy new year.

January is coming to its midpoint and I thought it was high time to formalise what my writing goals are for the year.

Part of this is to share with my friends and readers and part of it is just to have it on the page in order to hold myself accountable. So, without further ado:

• My first novella, The Balance is coming out very soon from Lycan Valley Press and I’m very excited about it. The goal here is to get it into as many hands as possible. You can read more about it here and I’ll announce pre-orders (along with some giveaways and fun stuff like that) here as soon as they are open.
• My second novella Below (working title) was beta-read, re-edited and submitted at the end of 2019. I have a really good feeling about this one, and my goal here is to finalise a deal to see this book out in the world in 2020. In all likelihood, it may not see the light of day until 2021, but to have that contract signed would be a huge boost for me.
• In the last two years, I’ve managed to have ten or more stories come out during the year in various publications and podcasts. I’d like to continue this form.
• I want to complete one or two long form pieces during 2020. I have the beginnings of a longer piece which I started in 2018 and then left, as I didn’t feel prepared to complete it at the time. I also want to start and make good headway with a new project. (I felt previously that I maybe ‘wasn’t a proper writer’ if I didn’t write full novels, but I’ve since decided to bin that idea and allow stories to be what they want to be. I often find in my reading experiences that my favourite horrors are novellas, anyway.)
• I want to contribute at least two stories to charity anthologies. I did some work with charity anthologies last year (as a submissions editor, producing the short list for ‘Sloth’ in Things in the Well’s Trickster’s Treats #3: The Seven Deadly Sins Edition) and had a story published in Grinning Skull Press’ A Tree Lighting in Deathlehem. Both were a lot of fun and for excellent causes, so I want to do more of this.
• I also want to blog more, and not just to trumpet new releases. I read an article on Chuck Wendig’s excellent blog the other day and he made some excellent arguments for more blogging, so expect this stream of consciousness to be a bit more regular.

 

And that’s it. What are your writing goals for 2020? Share in the comments or drop me a tweet @lisboetaingles