Posts

Weekly Update: Week 1

/0 Comments/in , /by

Happy New Year! I hope you had a great holiday season and are approaching this new year with energy, enthusiasm, and appreciation!

Now, to the update!

  1. Weight – I weighed in at 268 this week. I gained 3 pounds over the holidays. I didn’t want to gain anything, but three pounds isn’t the end of the world. I set a goal for this year to hit 215 by my birthday, June 14. That’s 43 pounds in 26 weeks, or just over 1.6 pounds per week. That’s a very realistic goal, particularly since I’m going to front load it with a short term goal of 15 lbs this month. We’re leaving for vacation Jan 28, and I want to look good for our destination!
  2. Non Fiction – I took some time off over the holidays, but now it’s back to work! Maintaining and growing social media, starting a newsletter and building a mailing list, and posting here regularly are all high priorities. I haven’t set any metrics yet for followers and such. Right now, I want to establish the routine, and build a reservoir of material for new readers to read through. Once I have a solid presence, then I’ll start working to build up!
  3. Fiction – Like I said, I took some time off for the holidays. I sat on the couch and watched TV with my wife, and then watched some football with the cats. I may have scared them a time or too, yelling at the screen. But now it’s time to get back into the harness and start putting words on paper. The weekly short story group started yesterday, and I plan on posting a story to the group every Friday, even while I’m on vacation. We’ll see how that goes! As for novel(s), it’s time to start working on those as well. The paranormal romance still sits at roughly 24k, and I want to have it completed by Jan 28. Then I’ll dive back into Calder Sharpe’s world and see what he’s been up to!
  4. Ukulele – One of my goals for the new year is to learn a new song each week and record at least one per month. This week, I’m concentrating on finishing “Hallelujah” and next week, The Rose (Bette Midler.) Other songs on my short list include “California Dreaming,” “All of Me,” “After the Goldrush,” “Over the Rainbow/Wonderful World,”and “Does your Chewing Gum Lose its Flavor (on the Bedpost Overnight?)” If there’s any song you think I should add to the list, let me know!
  5. What I’m Reading – Since I had time, I finished several books. First, “The Debare Snake Launcher” by Joelle Presby. This is her first solo novel and it is a good one even though it isn’t what I expected. I thought this would be more of a hard SF novel dealing with the construction of the first space elevator. Instead, it turned out to be more of a character study of the family given the contract to oversee construction of a support launcher to put supplies into orbit to build the elevator. We get to watch as the family fights deadlines, supply and construction issues, a volcano, and each other to complete construction of the launcher. Next up was Thief of Aether, by Bree Moore, book 2 of her “Shadowed Minds” series. Like the first book, this is another page turned as Lee is increasingly tangled in schemes and crossed loyalties as she tries desperately to find her way free of the magic that is killing her. Be warned, the book ends on a cliffhanger and we’ll all have to wait for book three to find out how it gets resolved. But it will be worth the wait! And right now, I’m reading Graphite and Turbulence, book two of Jami Fairleigh’s “Elemental Artist” series. It picks up immediatel after the conclusion of “Oil and Dust” as Matthew, a young Artist with the ability to alter things in the real world with his paintings continues his search to find his birth family.
  6. Audio books – The reviews are in (all two of them) and, based on thier feedback, I will be releasing an audio version of “The Name of the Moon” on Amazon to go along with the story. I have a few edits left to make on the audio, then I have to figure out how to post an audio to Amazon, get everything set up, and then it goes live. My goal is for it to go live before we go on vacation, but we’ll see.

And that’s it for this update!

Have a great week!

Hello 2023!

/1 Comment/in /by

I do believe in setting goals and making resolutions for the New Year. It gives me a focus for the year and a way to measure my progress.

There is a difference between a resolution and a goal that most people tend to miss. A goal is a concrete achievement. It’s very specific. One of the things we teach in our professional development courses is how to set a SMART goal.

  • Specific
  • Measurable
  • Achievable
  • Relevant
  • Timed

For example, if I’m setting a weight loss goal, I would say something like “I will weigh less than 215lbs by June 14.” I set a specific target, one that is measurable on a scale, and that involves a reasonable amount of time to achieve, and that has a deadline.

I left out relevant, and that’s because ‘relevant’ relates to a resolution.

Resolutions are not as cut and dried. They’re messy, hard to measure, and tend to be broader. For example, “I resolve to live a healthier lifestyle in 2023.” You see how that is not a SMART goal? But it still has meaning.

My goals must be relevant to my resolutions.

So here are my resolutions along with some goals for 2023.

  1. Be kind.
    • Go out of my way to greet people
    • Help others whenever the opportunity presents itself
    • Swallow my pride
    • Forgive offenses
  2. Be healthy
    • Weigh <215 by June 14
    • End all heart meds by June 14
    • Exercise 1 hour 3 times per week
  3. Be appreciative of the efforts of those around me
    • Praise freely; criticize sparingly
  4. Expand my horizons
    • Learn a song every week on the ukulele
    • Record and post one each month
    • Learn a new language
    • Finish my arcade controller
  5. Grow as a writer
    • Complete 52 short stories by Dec 31.
    • Complete 4 novels to final edit by Dec 31.
    • Publish collection of the best short stories by Oct 1.
    • Submit to 12 open call anthologies by Dec 31
    • Submit to WOTF every quarter I am eligible
    • Submit to both Baen contests
    • Record and publish 12 audio stories
  6. Love

2022 in Review

/1 Comment/in /by
Looking back over the last year

It’s been an interesting year.

Today is Dec 31, 2022 and for me, it’s a day to look backwards to see where I’m coming from and where I’ve been. I assess the things that worked, the things that didn’t, and use that to lay out my goals and resolutions for the coming year.

2022, was a year of beginnings for me. For the first time, I started treating writing seriously,as something more than “Oh, that’s something I’d like to try. Following some great advice I got at the tail end of 2021, I wrote and sold a story. Since then, I’ve tried a few more, but nothing else has sold.

And that’s okay; I’m still learning this author gig.

I stepped outside of my comfort zone, and did some things differently. Lissa and I went to several conventions this year, and instead of focusing on having fun, I began to emphasize learning more about the job and craft of writing fiction. That journey culminated in 20Books Vegas, where I met some amazing people and learned exactly how much I need to learn to make this a success.

I recorded an audio version of my story and sent it out to a fe volunteers who listened and gave me some very encouraging feedback. I’m incorporating their suggestions in the final edit, and will post it on Amazon soon.

For the coming year, I’m setting several ambitious goals for myself, and I’ll share those tomorrow.

There are plenty of regrets and lots of things I wish I’d done differently, but the only thing I can do about those is learn, and do better moving forward.

And that’s what tomorrow’s post will be about!