New Year’s Resolutions

What was the reason, you ask? I focused more on novel writing than blog writing. I finished the second draft of the sequel to Enoch’s Device, and it’s out now with my Beta readers. As soon as I have their comments, I’ll make whatever changes need to be made, and then it’s off to my professional editor. I feel confident the novel will be published in 2018, though I can’t predict quite when. But I’ll be sure to update everyone on the blog.

By posting more this year, I don’t plan to write less. Maybe just sleep less. My hope is that the return of Westworld will provide a good ten weeks of content, and as soon as I finish one of several novels I’m currently reading, I’ll post some more reviews.

I’m also resolving to exercising more on my new recumbent bike (sadly, my running days are long gone after 2016’s knee surgery). I bought one with a desk, so I can read or edit at the same time. The bike is in my office next to a bookshelf packed with vintage fantasy, so I’m planning on delving into that quite a bit in 2018. I’ve always believed there’s nothing like reading the classics that paved the way for the stories we love today.

Lastly, it’s my hope to write more short fiction. One of my biggest novel writing challenges is that historical fiction requires a ton of research, which takes a lot of time. My novels also tend to be longer, as you might expect for the genre, which means it can sometimes look like I’m on the George R.R. Martin plan when it comes to releasing new books. Even though my short stories will also be historical, I plan to use settings (and maybe even characters) with which I’m familiar to cut down on research time, with the goal of writing them in a few weeks or less. With luck, one or more this year may see the light of day.

That’s probably enough for 2018. I’ve never been good with New Year’s resolutions, so it’s best not to push the envelope too far. But for now, I’m looking forward to a happy – and productive – New Year!