It’s that time of year again – time to take stock of the ending year, and make plans and write down my goals for 2019.
Looking Back
So I thought I’d start by looking back at what I said a year ago:
“Nevertheless, I go into 2018 re-energized. For one, it’s an election year, and I can see a blue wave rising on the horizon.”
Nailed it! Yeah, we didn’t take the senate, but we go into 2019 a lot stronger than we did in 2018.
“For another, I finished and sold book two for each of my trilogies with Dreamspinner – “The Rising Tide” and “Lander” – and I am into book three of the Oberon Cycle already.“
Yup yup yup. Both “Lander” and “The Rising Tide” are out, and the final books in each trilogy, “Ithani” and “The Shoreless Sea,” are both finished, off to the publisher, and scheduled for February and October, respectively.
“And we have a plan for the business, working with someone I trust completely. It might still fail, but even if it does, we will pick ourselves up and move on.“
We’ve made our blog tour company, Other Worlds Ink, a real thing this year – we’ve now done more than fifty tours – and are working with DSPP for their blog tours. And the project mentioned above is inching toward completion.
“2018 will also be the year I get into self publication, with “River City” and likely with the fourth Queer Sci Fi flash fiction book as well.”
Score! “River City” came out in June, and this year we also published the fourth Queer Sci Fi flash fiction anthology – “Impact” – and I self published my own anthology “Spells & Stardust” and nine short stores.
On to the Races
Okay, so now onto my hopes and goals for 2019.
- Breaking Into SFWA: My first goal is to become a part of the Science Fiction Writer’s Association. They have certain minimum sales marks you have to meet that I haven’t managed yet, but for now I will try to get in at the basic level with some short story sales. Oh, and it’s Siffwah. Don’t say it wrong, or … well, nothing really bad will happen. Just don’t say it wrong.
- Writing Moon Base: Redemption: This is a tie-in book to my “Liminal Sky” series, but it will be a stand-alone tale grounded in hope, with lots of action and sci fi whiz-bang.
- Put Out My Second Anthology/Other Works: I still have a few returned tales (previously published but out of print now) that I plan to do something with. One idea is a contemporary anthology; another is possibly expanding some of the novellas. Expect more self pub from me in 2019.
- Earn More Than 2018: In 2018, I earned more than the year before – $8.33 more. So there’s that. I hope to do better in 2019, so I can afford to keep doing this author thing I love.
- Less Trump: One way or another, I’d love to have a 2019 where the orange man isn’t shouting in my ear every single day. The blue wave has come – let’s hope it washes away the orange man.
- A Little More Love in the World: I’ll do my part, but I hope to see us become less coarse again, more attuned to each other’s needs, slower to anger and quicker to love.
How will I do? Tune in next year to see.
How did you do on your 2018 hopes and goals? And what are you hoping for in 2019?