January Reflections

Instead of simply writing when the mood strikes, I made a decision that in 2009, I would take my fiction writing more seriously, treating it as much as a business as I do my freelancing.

And while I was not as accomplished this January as some of my favorite writerly people I like to watch, I did manage to write 22 days in January.

Here's what happened:

Works-in-progress

• The Lockwood Collection: currently pared down to just over 2000 words, working on it as we speak
• The Hanging Garden: put on the backburner at 6775 words, I plan to get back to that one when The Lockwood Collection is finished

Ideas Brewing for:

• Sand: A Journal of Strange Tales
• Raw Terror Antho.
• Return of the Raven

Since most of these stories are being written with specific markets in mind, I really need to get them finished and submitted before the deadlines!

Publications:

• Northern Haunts was finally released and so far, I've had one person's feedback. I'm looking forward to more people reading it, and to receiving my bog box o'books that I ordered for my entire family!

If you've read Creepy Crawleys, please feel free to send me a little note and let me know what you thought about it.

I imagine my output will be much better this month, as I've decided to join an online writing buddy of mine (and a host of other nutters!) in his February Writing Challenge, in which we each try to write at least 1000 words a day, every day, no matter what. If you want to get in on the challenge, join us on Twitter and look for the posts tagged with #1kday

I'm looking forward to the challenge! I find I do well with clear-cut goals, like NaNoWriMo, though I might go a little insane, as I plan to finish/edit my book next month for NaNoEdMo.

But this is what I love. I can't say that enough – I LOVE it. I could never see myself doing anything else. And to think – I stopped writing for like 5 years there. No wonder I was so miserable (the photo above is proof positive!).

[NWC]