Hey all,
Last week I reviewed my writing year in 2015. I thought I’d flip things around this week and look ahead to my writing plans for 2016. So here are some of the things I hope to accomplish:
1) Publish My First Novel: Or at least get it scheduled. Those who know me well know that I wrote my first novel in my early twenties, like twenty five years ago (I know, right?). But it never went anywhere – it was roundly rejected by ten mainstream publishers. In my more recent writing life, I’ve stuck exclusively to short stories and novellas, in part to tone up my writing muscles again, and in part because I’m still a little scarred from that initial experience. But in November, I took the NaNoWriMo challenge and completed my first novel in a quarter century. “Oberon” is a sci fi tale with my trademark twist, and is also the first book in a planned trilogy. I just finished the second draft, and it’s with the beta readers now. I hope to send it off to a publisher in January. The main complaint about my various novellas has been that they are too short, so I hope my readers like the longer story I’ve crafted! *fingers crossed*
2) Publish My First Stand-Alone Print Book: OK, so this one’s basically in the bag. My novella “The Autumn Lands” came out in the “Travels Through the Scarlet Equinox” anthology in November from Mischief Corner Books, and it’s due as a stand-alone title (print and eBook) on January 27th. So excited, and I can’t wait to add it to my author shelf!
3) Grow River City: On the contemporary side, I launched The River City Chronicles, my weekly serial story set in Sacramento, on October 1st. I’m now 13 chapters in, and the story is really picking up steam. I am working on some local publicity for the series – I’ll have a feature in Inside East Sacramento in February, as well as a story in Out Word – and hope to wrap up the first cycle sometime in 2017 to eventually be published as a novel in English and Italian.
4) Publish More Novellas: Yeah, I know. It’s novel time. But I have two novellas in the pipeline that I wrote some time ago. “Flames” is my marriage equality story for a planned anthology. And “Through the Veil”, my elf-trans boy San Francisco climate change tale, coming out in the Spring from Wilde City as part of the Myths Untold: Faery anthology. The antho includes Gus Li, Brandon Witt and Skye Hegyes. I originally wrote that one in 2014, so it’s had a long road to publication.
5) Finish Another Novel: Remember that novel I told you about earlier, the one I wrote in my twenties? Well, I have plans to rewrite it from scratch. The story must be told. But first, I decided that I needed to write a prequel to figure out the backstory, a four part epic sci fi novel featuring LGBT characters. It’s tentatively titled “Across the Stark Divide”, and the first two parts are in the can. I’m already partway through the third part, and hope to finish and submit the book by mid-year.
6) Write Oberon Books Two and Three: “Titania” and “Puck” – assuming Oberon sells to a publisher this year, I’ll have to get to work on books two and three. NaNoWriMo here I come!
7) Publish Another Short with MCBQ: This one’s been in the works for a bit, a short called Repitition, due out in the Quarterly. My take on coming out, and then going back in. With multiple timelines. 😛
8) Figure Out What to Do With Virus: I recently reworked one of my longer old stories, “Virus”, renaming it “Stripe.” But I’m not sure if it is ready to submit to a publisher, or if it needs to be longer to really tell the story. So it is sitting on the shelf. But I may pull it down again in 2016 to monkey with it.
9) Grow QSF’s Reader Readership: Queer Sci Fi is one of my greatest joys, and a terrific place for writers of LGBT speculative fiction to hang out. But I want to make it more reader friendly too, and to continue to grow our membership. So expect more reader initiatives in 2016!
10: Attend a Conference or Two: I loved doing Rainbow Con and Nijicon this year, so I’m considering cons I might want to hit in 2016.
Beyond that, who knows? I still have a number of “story starters” left – tales that I began a couple decades ago but never finished. And I might do some more anthology submissions – those are always fun. And I may have another project on tap, of which I may have been sworn to secrecy. It’s gonna be a jam-packed year.
What are your writerly plans for 2016?