Hey, before you read all this goal-setting ramble, hop over to Linger Fiction for a peek at their first issue and my short story (editor's choice, even), "A Game of Lost Boys".
Last year, I started with the following "What I can do" goals (along with how I did in bold):
1. Always have at least one story in front of a pro paying market. Mostly a success. Of course I've had a story on "hold" at a pro market for about five months...does that count?
2. Finish my final pass of Loathsome, Dark, and Deep and have it ready to query/submit in February. (Get on this one, eh?) Um, so I win here, right?
3. Write my fifth novel*--a ghost/suspense/YA thing with no title but one hell of a first line:
When I was younger, I imagined numerous ways to kill my sister just to see if she'd come back and haunt me. Written. Sitting unfinished (and unedited in large part). Doing Write 1/Sub 1 this year, I probably won't have time to write another novel, but I can finish this one, right?
4. Write at least one high quality story a month (or 12/year). I've gotten better at letting my stories "age" before editing. I'll do even better this year. I win. "The House was Never a Castle" sat for three months before final edits and revision, eventually selling to Shimmer. Yay!
5. Buy something from the small press every month. And read it. And review it for Skull Salad. More than one would be sweet. Fail. I bought at least twelve small press items (including subscriptions to three mags), but haven't managed to do the reviews. Thank goodness some other good peeps are helping out at Skull Salad.
I would like the following to happen as well, but these items require outside "assistance":
1. Land an agent/sell a book. I sold two books and sent out two query letters to agents. I'm kind of sour on the agenting front, to tell the truth.
2. Sell another story to a pro paying market. Huzzah! I technically sold two: "Wanting It" (forthcoming in Shock Totem) and "Different Strings" which won the Whidbey Writers Workshop Students' Choice Award for October...of course I never received the prize money...hmmmmm.
So where do I go from here? Tune in next week to find out. ;)
And HAPPY NEW YEAR!
9 comments:
Hmm. You never got paid by the Whidbey Writers Workshop? Looks like an investigation is called for here. ... then again, it was for October -- does that mean you won in October or it was published in October or ... ?
Happy new year!
Number one may be cheating but it counts. It definitely counts.
A very sweet year.
Seems to me that your year has been more than successful. Wish you the same and more for the next year, my friend.
Yep, sounds like a terrific year, Aaron! Hoping you have even more success this next one!
Well done, sir. Now heading over to Linger Fiction...
(They still have one of mine in their possession; we'll see what happens with it.)
Sounds like you had a great year. Here's to an even better 2011! Happy new year!
Robert - I won in October, published in November. They're on a list of queries I need to send next week.
Cate - I never said how many, did I? You've had a pretty nice year yourself. Onward to 2011!
Alan - Thanks. I hope all the best for you in 2011, Alan.
Lee - A new year, a new decade. I wish you success as well.
Milo - Hope you enjoy.
K.C. - Happy new year! 2011 will be good to all of us, I feel it.
Nice job in 2010! I'm looking forward to 2011, and I'm excited to see how your ambitious schedule goes. You are putting together a couple of books of stories this year, which is just prolific. Here's to some fluid writing!
I'd say you definitely deserve the overall "Success!" stamp. Two books and Shimmer and--yeah. You win, Aaron, by being awesome.
Post a Comment