Writing Goals Update

At the beginning of the year, I set some writing goals, which you can read about here. The goals were, intentionally, ambitious. With the year almost three-quarters gone, I thought I’d take a look at where I stand with respect to those stretch goals.

  1. Finish Edits on Novel under Contract. Status: Almost done. My novel, The Shaman of Turtle Valley, will be published by Braddock Avenue Books for publication in March 2019. I expect to receive edits from the publisher at any moment, at which time I will need to drop everything else and focus on getting the manuscript in final shape.
  2. Compile the Anthology under Contract. Status: Done. Volume III of my anthology series, Everywhere Stories, will be published in October. The book is done—I haven’t seen it yet, but the publisher has hard copies in hand.
  3. Find a publisher for my novel. Status: Done. I’ve signed a contract with Regal House Publishing for that novel to appear in the Fall of 2020. I did a major revision of the book and have now submitted that version to the publisher for editing. Title: Oliver’s Travels
  4. Finish the new story collection. Status: Done. Thanks to a short residency at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts in February, I finished several new stories to complete the collection. All of those stories (except one) have been accepted for publication, and Press 53 has agreed to publish the collection in March of 2020. Title: House of the Ancients and Other Stories.
  5. Finish the new novel. Status: Not done. I’ve been working on yet another novel for a couple of years now. I have some nagging concerns about it, but I think I’m close to resolving those problems and moving forward toward completion. Dare I hope for getting it done by the end of the year? With a residency coming up in November-December, I’m hopeful that I can still make significant progress on this book by the end of the year, but realistically, I think it will be next summer before this one is finished.
  6. Query agents. Status: Not done. This one depends on finishing the new novel. I am currently unrepresented, but I believe the new novel has more commercial potential than my last novel did, so when it’s done it will definitely be time to shop around once again.
  7. Dabble in the essay form. Status: Not done. I’ve become intrigued by the memoir and personal essay forms. I’ve written very little in this genre, but I’m determined to write some essays this year to see what I can make of them. Possibly a memoir or a collection of essays? That’s a longer-term goal, not likely to be finished in 2018. With so many other things going on, I haven’t started on essays. But soon . . .

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