It is a couple of days after Christmas. There is still a thin fringe of snow on the ground, a rare occurrence for us at this time of year. The hectic, hurried season is behind me, the end of this year is waiting on the other side of this weekend. After the frenetic pace of the holidays and a day to recoup some of the energy spent baking and cooking, wrapping and unwrapping, celebrating and driving, it is time for me to look back at 2024. I can say with pride that it was a (mostly) fantastic year for me personally, and a successful writing year as well.
I had a total of five short stories published in 2024: Blade of Glass (Fall into Fantasy 2024), Repercussions (Book of Choices Volume One), and Allie, A Bugler’s Final Note & Two (Marbles). I still have a pair of stories awaiting a publication date: Ideal Bounds (written with my amazing wife for inclusion in We Suck at Comics Volume Two) and Newborn (in the long-gestating-but-still-happening Face Project).
I polished up my second draft of the first book in my YA series and made great progress on the first draft of book 2 which I hope to have nearly done by the end of January. I love how these stories are taking shape and I feel like they have a great shot at publication. I’ve also begun jotting down the framework for book 3 and, though I have a lot of work to do before I can even begin outlining, I think I have a lot of solid ideas for where the narrative will go.
I also joined a writing group at my local library, and I am so lucky to be able to share some time every month with these wonderful and talented people. I won’t name them – everyone has different comfort levels when it comes to online and social media visibility – but if they are reading this, thank you so much for your inspiration, your guidance, and your words.
Lastly, I created an author page on Amazon! There are links on my site that can take you to it. Just to be able to see my name on such an immensely popular website was humbling to say the least, and though I do not think a single person has seen it (outside of my family anyway) I am still blown away that it even exists.
Although I was unable to successfully complete a couple of my goals this year, I still accomplished a lot. I could dwell on the things that I missed on, but I prefer to learn from those misses and celebrate the hits. So as I look towards 2025, I am setting goals for myself again with the lessons of this year still fresh in my mind. Much of this will be familiar, but I changed some things to give me a more concrete path to tread in the coming months.
My six goals for 2025 are:
1 – I want finish editing book one of my YA series to the point that I consider it good enough for publication (it probably won’t be, but I want to get it as far as I can take it). I am close on this one. The last 2 months of 2024 saw a lot of movement on this goal, so this is one I feel very positive about.
2 – I want to begin querying agents to see if I can publish that book, and its sequels, traditionally. This was delayed because the editing process took longer than I anticipated. I have 3 different query letters written; I have decided to spend a money for a professional review to help me polish one so that it is worthy of being sent out.
3 – I want to finish the first draft of book 2 in that series and go through at least 1 round of edits. Again, this has been moved to 2025. January is my month of 50K words, so hopefully I will have book 2 mostly completed by the end of the month.
4 – I want to have a completed outline for book 3 with an aim at starting the writing process this year as well. I already have the basic idea for this story and a theme to work with. I also have a few notes and ideas for pieces I want to include, but like any series some things will be contingent upon what came before (and what I know comes after) so finishing book 2 must happen first.
5 – I want to have at least 2 short stories accepted for publication. I am repeating this goal because I think it is obtainable and a good motivator.
6 – I want to extend my visibility as far as social interactions and publicity goes. As the year ends I have 52 followers. I had 11 when 2024 began. So for 2025, I am going to push for over 100 followers. How? Well, that remains to be seen. I know I need to post more, something I wanted to do in 2024 but fell off on very quickly. That will be my starting point. I’m also going to drive extra traffic to my website, a goal that will require a little time learning how to do that! But there are enough resources to help me.
You will be reading this as 2025 begins. I hope you had a wonderful holiday season, and I wish everyone a safe, happy, and healthy new year. Stay positive, do not lose sight of the goals you set for yourself, and never let anyone tell you that you cannot accomplish them. And thank you for your support this past year – it means more to me than I can express here. Be well! James