1. Always have one story in front of a pro-paying market. Right now I have six...granted, three are flash pieces, but I did receive a rewrite request on one longer piece. Still waiting.
2. Finish Rock Gods and Scary Monsters and query that sucker by year's end. Done and done. Still waiting. I currently have two fulls out.
3. Write The House Eaters. Um, done.
4. Write at least one high-quality story a month. Well...I averaged more than one a month. Quality? That's for someone else to decide. I've become a better writer, that's for sure.
5. Give myself some breaks. Check. (Actually, I need to get my lazy butt to work)
Now there were two items on the list that needed "assistance" (i.e., I wasn't in total control).
1. Land an agent/sell a book. Agent, no. A few close calls, but nil. Sell a book...check: The House Eaters to Virtual Tales.
2. Sell a story to a pro paying market. Until three days ago, it didn't look like this would happen...but I did land my first pro-rate sale last weekend. More on this later (trying to keep the cat in the bag for now...poor kitty). I'm thrilled, of course.
So all in all, I did okay. Some other highlights include:
- Reading the first reviews of my writing (the very first was for "A Plague from the Mud" at Horror Drive-in.com--and it was positive).
- Sales to Nossa Morte, Murky Depths, Necrotic Tissue...all markets I'd tried and tried and tried.
- Seeing sweet books like Monstrous, Northern Haunts, and Harvest Hill in print. Hell, seeing Monstrous on a shelf at Borders (with my name on the back...WTF?) was pretty effing cool.
- A growing circle of bloggy-people with whom to share successes and process set-backs. Y'all are awesome.
A pretty darn good year, I 'spose. I'm sure I can scrounge up goals for next year, but for now, I'm out. Have a good New Year's Eve. Stay safe.
12 comments:
Wow, Aaron - that is a darn good year! Congratulations - and darn it for keeping cats in bags. :-P
Yeah, I know, sometimes it must be done. :)
You've set a blistering pace for the rest of the crowd and are a fine example.
I also enjoyed the your audio recordings of a couple of your flash stories this year.
Great year, sir! Have a great new year.
Awesome! Excellent year, and good luck on that rewrite. I bet you get an agent in 2010.
Happy new year!
Congratulations. You are in inspiration to us laggards. And by us, and I mean me. And by inspiration, I mean inspiration.
Jodi - I'd love to have a cat roaming our house, but Owen is allergic to dander. Darn that, too.
Alan - Thanks. I hope to do more audio. It's fun.
K.C. - Agent? That'd be nice...
Brendan - Thanks. And by thanks I mean, thanks.
That is an impressive year. Don't forget the success of your other endeavors like Strange Publications. Can't wait to see what pro sale you had. Happy New Year.
That's truly a great year and well deserved. Here's to reaching new goals in 2010.
Goals later. Food and drink now : )
Fantastic year, Aaron. Can't wait to discover which pro magazine you've made it into and also to see what goodies are waiting for you in 2010. :D
Thanks, everyone.
Oooh congrats on the pro sale-- can't wait to hear more about that! And really, just congrats on the year. The year of the first book sale is pretty much the coolest thing ever.
My posts seem to be getting repetitive because everyone had such a cool year!
You're no exception, mate - excellent numbers, sweet markets, brilliant House Eaters. Looking forward to the pro news...
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