January Progress Report and February Goals

Well, we’re one month down in 2017 and I hope yours was a good one. This month was a super busy one, as is the norm. But it’s always good and busy is better than boring, right? I spend a lot of time reading and critiquing some great stories for the The Write Practice winter writing contest. It was a great experience, and many I’ll try something similar again sometime.

I’m also trying to do more promoting and stuff, so here’s my current event schedule. Feel free to swing by and hi if you’re in the area. Click the link for details.

• Red Path Art Gallery – Presentation about the business of writing fiction and signing, April 23, 1:30-3:00 (Seward, NE)
• Six Corners Southeast – Reading and signing May 7, 12:30-5:00 (Bellevue, NE)
• Constellation 8 – This one is pending, but I’m proposing a few panels at this science fiction convention, so I’ll have updates and a line-up if they are accepted. Either way, I do plan to have a table in the vendor room for signings. April 28-30 (Lincoln, NE)

Okay, now onto my monthly report of what I had going on in January and what I hope to see in February.

Short Stories

I started out the month with my short story story, Waking up in the Woods getting reprinted in AntipodeanSF issue 222, along with an audio component. I also finished a new piece of flash fiction, which was also my first crime scene story, and got it submitted.

My submission stats were rather boring in January, but here they are:

I told you this was boring. I received one form letter rejection and that was it. I also had one pending market go out of business, so chalk that one up as a non-response. I submitted or resubmitted three stories, and currently have seven out pending review.

Theme of Absence

This was a little better month for the ezine. Traffic was up 21% from last month, and up 31% from January of last year. So hopefully we can continue that trend. In bigger news for the site, however, Theme of Absence made it to a top ten finish in Critter Writers Workshop Best Fiction Magazine/e-zine for 2016. That’s a pretty good honor, and thank you to everyone who supported us 🙂

I’ve fallen a bit behind on submissions, as I’m still finishing up the critiques for The Write Practice contest, so if you have a story out and haven’t heard from me yet, don’t worry. It’s in my inbox and I’ll get back on my regular reading schedule later this month.

WIP Novel

Well, there’s nothing to report here. I keep going back and forth on what to do about a next novel. I have the YA fantasy that has been stuck in revision mode for years and I just can’t get it to feel right. I also have a YA horror novel in the works that started getting boring so I’m on a break with it too. I also have some other ideas, but they are large and intimidating, so I’m just taking some time off to work on short stories while I figure things out.

Goals for February

Hmmm. This is another “I’m not quite sure yet.” I have a horror novel that is pretty much a complete first draft. As of right now, cleaning that up and getting it sent off seems like an honorable goal. Otherwise, it’s the usual stuff. Keep a blogging schedule, don’t fall too far behind on Theme of Absence, and keep working on promoting stuff.

It should be a good month.

So there’s my progress report and goals. Want to share yours? Leave a comment!