At least one. There’s been no secret to anyone that reads here that 2014 sucked. I lost my mom, quit one job, lost another, lost more friends to cancer than I care to think about, and write almost nothing until November. But as the year wound down I got involved with a bunch of exciting new projects, a new day job that I enjoy, and managed to pull myself out of the depression that dragged me down for much of 2014. I’m not much for resolutions, because I break those way too quickly, but I do have some goals for 2015 that I’m willing to share.
1) Cut down on sodas. I’ve gained a bunch of weight this year, and I was no little dude to start with. That’s got to change. I don’t feel very good much of the time, and it’s because I’m carrying around the equivalent of two big bags of dog food everywhere. The first step for me is to cut down and hopefully eventually cut out, sodas and sugary drinks. If I can cut down to one can of soda per day from the 4 or more I normally drink, that cuts 500 empty calories out of my diet. It’s not easy, and it won’t be easy, but I’ve got to do something for my health, and that’s one place to start.
2) Write more. I’ve been pretty good about writing consistently since November, and I’m getting back in the groove. I can tell I’m in a good writing place when I can’t watch a whole movie on Netflix without thinking about writing. That leads to more publishing, which leads to more sales, which leads to more money to do fun things with my wife.
3) Be more consistent with my publishing. I plan to publish a Bubba short story every month, and to write at least one Harker novella per quarter. I plan to turn in Book 6 of The Black Knight Chronicles this year, hopefully by June, and publish another novel on my own. I also have several anthology projects I’m committed to, some have been announced and some have not. But there should be a LOT of new material for folks in 2015. I think if all goes well we’re looking at somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 new releases from me this year, if not more.
That’s really it as far as goals for the year. I’ve been pretty slack the past couple of years as far as producing new work, and that’s gotta change.
So far I’m doing pretty good keeping up with doing Literate Liquors on a weekly basis. Starting on the 9th of January, you’ll be able to get older episodes and current episodes on Magical Words as well, so go over there and check us out for the best in writing advice and you can listen to Literate Liquors as well!
The Patreon thing is starting to take off as well. Patreon is a way for fans to support artists, and in my case, get all my books for free (kinda) before they hit the street! Here’s how it works – you pledge a monthly donation to an artist that you dig, and they get a little bit of cash each month. Then you get benefits for being a patron, like your name in the acknowledgements of each story, free preview copies of all my ebooks, or even dinner for you and a guest at a convention or a manuscript critique! There are patron levels for every budget, and if you want to learn more, here’s the link to Patreon.
