2013 Taught Me These Things

Hello, 2014. You've been around for a little over a week now, and I wanted to give you a proper greeting. So, hi. You're going to be a good year. I know it.

As I say hello to 2014, it's only fitting to say one last goodbye to 2013. It was a very good year--and one which taught me a few things:

1. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. And by Santa Claus I mean a woman with whom I am madly in love. We married in July and care for a half-dozen kids in our home. And--AND I am very happy. Yes, it can happen like this. It does every day.

2. I can still write. I've had to shake away some rust (some of my work hasn't been my best), but the desire is there--not the feverish drive it once was, but that came from managing demons as much as desire to tell stories. Now, I have the desire, but the demons are not snapping at my heals. This is a better seat from which to write.

You can read the first published piece I penned after my hiatus at Weirdyear. It's a bit of flash I call "Doubt"--and I'd be thrilled it you'd give it a read. 

3. Even while I spent more than a year on hiatus, books and stories continued to sell via Smashwords and Amazon. Upon returning, I've found Amazon a much more crowded landscape than ever. My sales through Smashwords and its affiliates were roughly flat. Considering I spent zero time promoting my writing for the majority of 2013, I find that quite interesting. I actually broke down my numbers (which weren't record breaking in any way), and found a few interesting tidbits. My top five paid sellers* were as follows:

A Feast of Flesh: Tales of Zombies, Monsters, and Demons	141
Violent Ends: Horror Stories	120
Thirteen Shadows: Ghost Stories	76
The Bottom Feeders and Other Stories	74
Write Hard: Prompts, Prods, and Pep-Talks for Writers	26

Some books sold very litte--only 4 copies of The House Eaters for example. Was it the presence of words like "horror stories" or "ghost stories" or the goldmine "zombies" in the titles of the others? Was it price? None of these numbers will break records, but I like to think about data. Freebies "sold" many more copies, but I didn't include them here. For those keeping score at home, Write Hard was my bestseller for Kindle via Amazon.com, but not all of my books were available for Kindle during 2013. 

4. I missed shouting at the universe via this blog, Twitter, and the Interweb^TM in general.

5. I have much more to say before I take the big dirt nap. Years and years of stories to tell. Will you listen?

My 2014 goals are forthcoming. Really.

I promise.

*for the past two years, I've donated every dime of my net Smashwords earnings to local and international charities. No writer's work is paid what it is "worth" but I can make my work worth more in terms of education, food, and healthcare in the right hands.  Heifer International and Health Care Access are two of my favorites.

2008 In Review: Blah, blah, blah

I'm starting to think about goals for next year, but I can't properly move forward without giving a nod to the past.

My first published story (not the first acceptance, but that's the way of publishing) saw the light of the interweb last February. "Rock Gods and Concrete Altars" is a vignette of small town life, dreams, and tragedy. Any regular reader will notice a similarity between that title and the title of my NaNo effort this year. That's not all they have in common...

My favorite published story to date is a two-way tie between "Reciprocity" in the September issue of The Battered Suitcase, and "Catalog Sales" in Necrotic Tissue #4. "Reciprocity" received unexpected but highly appreciated praise from the blogosphere; "Catalog Sales" features my favorite character to date, a hobo-bookseller from the great depression. I have several forthcoming pieces I'm stoked about, but that's another post.

With an old buddy of mine, I started a small publishing company, Strange Publications. We launched our flagship 'zine, Sand: A Journal of Strange Tales, last Spring. Ed agreed to be the editor because, at the time we started accepting submissions, I had yet to be published. I guess I was afraid of having my name out there, I don't know, but Ed's having a hell of a time and won't give up the reins...yet(and that's good, I guess). Since the 'zine's inception, we've also published Tainted: Tales of Terror and the Supernatural and are currently working on Fifty-Two Stitches.

We started Strange when I was feeling the blues about my writing. I've learned too much to quantify/qualify, and Ed has learned more than he probably wanted to. Hopefully we've helped some good stories find some good readers.

That's about it for the writing/publishing front...I've had other adventures this year: Owen is in kindergarten, Max is chatting up a storm, Aimee started a new job, my high school students achieved "Standard of Excellence" on their state reading assessments. Writing has made me a better teacher of writing (and reading).

As far as what genre I write? Looking back at the four stories I mentioned, one is literary, one is more magical realism, one is dark fantasy, and one is just plain goofy (clockwork rabbits who don't know they aren't real?). I like Cate's comment on my previous post. I like odd. Sometimes the lights go out (spooky); sometimes they don't.

Peace all.