At the beginning of 2015 my writing resolutions were:<\/p>\n
1. Create a writing plan, and execute the plan to meet my word goals for the 3XN novels.<\/i><\/p>\n
I have been focusing on this task, first and foremost.<\/p>\n
2. Edit and submit to market ALL of the new short stories from 2014.<\/i><\/p>\n
A summary of the state of my 2014 short stories: 3. Write, edit, and submit to market at least 1 ADDITIONAL short story, adding to the requirement as I’m invited to anthologies.<\/i><\/p>\n Done! I wrote “Slaughter-Greedy” for an invitation anthology. 4. Pursue grants<\/u> in the spring and fall.<\/i><\/p>\n Epic fail. I did not submit any grant proposals in 2015.<\/p>\n 5. Aim for the sub-a-week challenge with my existing inventory, but allow for a low goal of 30 submissions when the 3XN work takes priority. <\/i><\/p>\n Done! I made 56 submissions in 2015, including delivering 3X1 as well as submitting the galley proofs.<\/p>\n 6. Use National Novel Writing Month<\/a> to sprint for the final 3XN goals of the year.<\/i><\/p>\n Done! This year, I spent most of November behind the goal line, but hit 50,000 words with one day to spare. I now have about 35,000 words to go on 3X2. I posted a very math-intensive summary of NaNoWriMo activities year-by-year<\/a>.<\/p>\n 7. Write a minimum of 300 NEW words every day.<\/i><\/p>\n Epic fail. I fell off this bandwagon after my knee surgery in April and never climbed back on.<\/p>\n 8. Do my best to get ELEMENTS on ballots during award season.<\/i><\/p>\n Done! Elements: A Collection of Speculative Fiction<\/i> was nominated in the Best Related Work category of the Aurora Awards and two of its stories, “Soul-Hungry” and “Jelly and the D-Machine” were nominated in the Best Short Fiction category. Although I didn\u2019t win, “Jelly and the D-Machine” was included in 2 best-of anthologies:<\/p>\n Year\u2019s Best YA Speculative Fiction 2014<\/i> from Twelfth Planet Press and This year I sold one new short story, The Patent Bagger<\/a> to AE: The Canadian Science Fiction Review, Issue #20, Fall 2015<\/i>.<\/p>\n I sold 3 reprints – the two sales of Jelly to the best-of anthos above, plus “Free Range” to the brand new magazine The Singularity<\/a>.<\/p>\n What else happened in 2015?<\/p>\n I had knee surgery at the end of April. The surgeon repaired two meniscal tears, one below the kneecap and one above. He also “cleaned up” the underside of the kneecap. I didn\u2019t get back to “normal” — I still use my cane to walk, but the pain is better than before the surgery and I\u2019ve made a conscious decision to not return to physiotherapy. I posted more details about the knee on my Phoenix<\/a> post.<\/p>\n That leads me to my writing resolutions for 2016:<\/p>\n 1. Accomplish “THE PLAN” to complete my 3XN goals. I\u2019ve spent enough time on these resolutions. It\u2019s time to start writing…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At the beginning of 2015 my writing resolutions were: 1. Create a writing plan, and execute the plan to meet my word goals for the 3XN novels. I have been focusing on this task, first and foremost. 2. Edit and submit to market ALL of the new short stories from 2014. A summary of the state of my 2014 short stories: “Black is the Source of Her Smithing” – has 4 more rejections, bringing the total to 6 and is\u2026<\/p>\n
\n“Black is the Source of Her Smithing” – has 4 more rejections, bringing the total to 6 and is out at a market right now.
\n“Beneath a Cloak of Fear” – has 2 rejections. Since it\u2019s not genre, I haven\u2019t been as aggressively marketing this one.
\n“Papa and the Steam Rifle” – I sent this story to its intended market. They asked for edits but I didn\u2019t have the time for them. So my Stop-Watch Gang colleague, Stephen Kotowych<\/a> made the edits and it\u2019s now being marketed as a collaboration. So far, mostly thanks to Steve\u2019s enthusiasm, it has 10 rejections and is out at a market right now.
\n“Mr. Ice” – I changed the name of this one, sent it to its intended market, and it was rejected. I\u2019m not much of a superhero author, so this one likely will never be submitted again.<\/p>\n
\nI wrote about half of \u201cProof of Love\u201d for another invitation anthology, and hope I can squeeze the time to complete it in early 2016.<\/p>\n
\nImaginarium 4<\/i> from ChiZine Publications.<\/p>\n
\n2. Finish “Proof of Love” and submit, if time permits.
\n3. Pursue grants<\/b> in the spring or fall.
\n4. Aim for the sub-a-week challenge with my existing inventory, but allow for a low goal of 30 submissions considering the tight deadlines of THE PLAN.
\n5. Treat every month like it\u2019s NaNoWriMo, especially JAN, FEB, MAR, MAY, and JUN.<\/p>\n