First Month of 2025 / Happenings In The Outhouse 31-Jan-2025

The first month of 2025 is in the books.

How has it been going for you?

Aside from challenges at work--my day job--my writing is progressing very well.  I am almost 13,000 words into a cozy mystery story--the first in a series.  I also have submitted a few short stories for publication, and I am still waiting on a number of others.

All in all, I am pleased.  Could it be better?  Sure.  Am I disappointed?  Nope.  Every step forward is a step closer to success.

Even if you have five minutes to work on something, commit to those five minutes.

It's Okay To Say No / Happenings In The Outhouse 24-Jan-2025

Last week, I blogged about my latest podcast fast.

This week, I'm taking it a step further.  I said no.  I said no to contributing to a Kickstarter project by someone that, if the project went high enough, it would've allowed me to write a short story for their magazine (a magazine that never opens for submissions unless by this method or by invitation) for submission.

I have contributed to their Kickstarter projects before, sometimes with the sole purpose of allowing me the invitation to submit to their magazine.  I am still waiting on a handful that I sent them--I seriously doubt any of them would be picked, but it's the feedback that I want more to help me become a better writer.

For the past few years, I have focused solely on short stories, and now I am back in the novel writing mode.  I am over 10,000 words into a new cozy mystery series, and I am loving it!  But because I'm loving it is the reason I said no to contributing to their project.  I still could've enjoyed the stories that went with the project, but this time I said no.

And that's okay.

What have you said no to lately?

And if you haven't, what should you?  Your time is precious.  Protect it.  Dedicate it to your craft, whatever it is.  The world will be a much better place if you do.

Podcast Fasting Revisited Again / Happenings In The Outhouse 17-Jan-2025

I have done this before, either cut down on the number of podcasts I listen to or pause listening to them altogether.

Well, I'm at it again, pausing them in its entirety and revisiting the list that I do have and possibly cutting them down.  Are there new ones to add?  Possibly not.  Are there ones to cut?  Possibly.

I looked at my podcast list and discovered I had not listed to a podcast since the end of October.

Why is this?

A number of reasons, truth be told.  I have some changes at my full-time job which is causing me to focus more of my energy on learning new work processes.  Also, I am listening to more audiobooks, so my listening is not completely going away.

Last year, I focused a lot on learning new writing techniques and writing short stories.  Now, I am writing a new novel (in a new series).  It is a cozy mystery series and I am around 6,500 words into it.  I am having a blast writing it.  I have a short story that I am using as the basis for it, but for now I am keeping the details under wraps.

Not Going As Planned / Happenings In The Outhouse 10-Jan-2025

You can plan and plan and plan all you want, and when it comes to doing something, always expect something to not go as planned.  Expect the unexpected, as the old adage says.

I've written a fair amount of stories.  And even if I do some outlining (which is usually minimal at best since I typically write into the dark with no plan in mind), something unexpected crops up which takes my story into another direction that I hadn't planned.

This past fall, my wife and I hired a contractor to help do some remodeling in our house.  New flooring, windows, doors.  Every step along the way the contractor has hit a roadblock or two--nothing being his fault, since he is at the mercy of the window/door manufacturers or the lumberyard in question.  Even the original patio door was two feet wider--yes, I said two feet!--than the old one.  The contractor measured it correctly.  Again, when it was ordered, it was ordered incorrectly.

One of the stories I had just submitted to Writers of the Future at the end of December was like this.  I had something in mind for how it would go, but suddenly as I wrote a scene early on, the story took a turn in another direction.  In my opinion, the story is much better than what I had anticipated.

The New Year, New Goals / Happenings In The Outhouse 03-Jan-2025

With the new year comes new goals.

2025 is now upon us, and with that, for myself, I will be taking a different direction for my writing than what I have been doing these past few years.

As you may recall, I have been focusing on short stories--writing them, submitting them.  I have quite the backlog of stories now to choose from and, honestly, I miss writing novels.

With the new year comes the new goal of getting back to writing novels.  I will still write short stories, especially for anthology calls, writing workshops, Kickstarter campaigns, and of course Writers of The Future.

But my main focus for 2025 will be writing novels.

First up is a new series.  It is a cozy mystery series that has been brewing--pun intended--for several years and now I'm ready to start writing it.