Well, in my post “Distractions” I talked about setting a writing goal. Part of that commitment to writing more was to share the journey with you. So, once a month, I am going to give you some updates on how my writing has gone. I’ll also touch on some of the other projects I have going.
First lets talk about writing. I made a commitment that I would try to write 1,000 words a day. Honestly there have been a few days where I didn’t write at all (six days actually). But considering we had the Holidays in that time, I am okay with that. However, there were a lot of days were I wrote a lot. I even had some great days, this past Friday I almost got 10,000 words. On the days I wrote I averaged over 2,000 words. I’ve been posting my daily word counts on Twitter (when I write). I have written just over 38,000 words.
None of this counts the writing I do here. While I love getting the blog to your guys. I even had a very successful post on self-publishing. But, this word count has gone directly into my novel. You may remember I have set a goal of one short story a month and one novel a year. I haven’t thought of a short story for January yet, so I may be a little behind on that. But, the novel is coming along well.
I have a children’s book my oldest son (he was five when we wrote it, six now) and I wrote together. The status on it’s publication is still a bit in limbo. I have an illustrator working on the drawings. The backgrounds are all done, and the characters have slowly been put in the scenes. But, the next part is all the coloring. She just had a baby, so of course that slows things down. Fingers crossed for a March release, but I haven’t set any dates yet. It is the hope that by the time I do the Updates for February I can show you the cover art and announce an official release date.
I think those of you with kids will enjoy it, and likely relate with it. It also embodies the joy of working on a project with your own child and sharing in an art you both can enjoy. In any case, “Daddy is Tired” will be a joy to read for parents and young children learning to read.
I still have two short storied for 2011 out at different markets. They will make their rounds until they are published. I will of course announce that right away on both Twitter and Facebook. Once I start turning out short stories monthly, I will be really glad to Duotrope to help track where they all are.
As far as my reading goes, it has been put on hold with the holidays. I am currently reading the novel Shining in Crimson. As some of you know I read this when it was still a draft to help Robert S. Wilson with my thoughts on the novel. I am excited about reading the completed work, and have found he left in all the good parts (so far). I don’t have a novel on this list for once I am done reading this one. So, a trip to the book store may be in my future. Shadows in Flight by Orson Scott Card is set to release in a few days, that will certainly be on my list. You can always follow what I am reading by becoming a fan on Goodreads.
I still get my daily dose of short fiction from Daily Science Fiction. But, I am way behind on my issues of Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine. I haven’t even opened the Nov/Dec issue and the Jan/Feb should be coming any day. Perhaps I will take a break from novels and catch up on those. We will see.
My short story “Death Watch” has been nominated for two awards in 2011. I am very please with this. First, of all this is my very first published short story. It was only the second one I had ever written and the first one considered Flash Fiction (under 1,000 words). You can still read it at Liquid Imagination by clicking here.
The first nomination it got was for the Micro Awards. The announcement on that won’t come until the very end of February. It will be judged by a panel of judges and we will see how it does.
The second nomination came as a complete surprise. It was nominated in the Preditors and Editors 2011 Readers poll. There are a lot of good works there. I was reading and voting through the categories when I got to Science Fiction and Fantasy short stories. And there was “Death Watch” listed. I about jumped out of my seat. I was honored to find that I was even nominated.
Because it is a poll, it is done based on voting. I am even more pleased to announce it has been in first and second place for a good portion of the polling. Polling ends January 10th. Please, go place a vote here. It only takes a minute and I would appreciate it.
I think the last thing I will bring up isn’t directly related to writing. I used to own a business, and I am dying to get back into owning one again. I have been contemplating many different things, but another Security Company is not one of them. I have been in the industry for a while, but the big companies really have locked the start ups out of the business. Perhaps if I had clients set before I got started, I might consider it.
So that is the updates for you this month. I will continue to post my weekly blog posts on a variety of topics. Please subscribe to my blog to receive email updates on when I post.