Challenge,  Fun Stuff

Thinking About Next Year

December 2, 2022 /

December 1st…

Time for any fiction writer to start taking stock in how the year of writing went, and planning for the following year. I will talk later about 2022, but tonight I spent a lot of time really going over a challenge for 2023 and see what the benefits would be and the downsides.

And more than anything, how the entire idea and challenge fits for me and my eyesight at the moment. It is supposed to be better, and it is improving slightly, but how much and by when is a moving target at the moment. That makes planning for the year a slight challenge, more than normal.

And I assume you all take into account issues like that when you plan, as well as big events in 2023 that might slow down or stop you.

So I am doing planning now, here on the 1st of December for 2023. I do know that we have a lot of great stuff to announce at WMG this month, so I wanted to get some of this planning out of the way. But stay tuned here. A lot about planning, dealing with a “bad” year, and more coming.

And I sure hope you all are enjoying the incredible stories per day coming to your mailbox from the Holiday Spectacular. Amazing fiction.

4 Comments

  • Philip

    December 2, 2022 at 5:47 am

    I’m also planning. I always hated the holiday of New Year’s but yet loved the concept of Resolutions and a fresh start for the new year.

    I failed miserably in 2022. Spent most of the year getting my diabetes on track, dealing with family issues, and starting a new job. Only got a handful of short stories done.

    So, once again, I’d like to do the Rat Bradbury challenge and write a short story a week in 2023. AND actually publish them all (wide).

    I’m 43 and recently read a piece by Louis L’Amour’s son Beau. He said that his father started writing around 40 and challenged himself that year to write and submit a short story per week. He wound up writing 55 stories and selling 36 of them! Again, as a newbie at 40! The rest, as they say, is history. We all know how L’Amour went on to be a prolific legend. I’m no L’Amour but it’s inspirational.

    • Frank

      December 3, 2022 at 5:24 am

      Louis L’Amour sold his first story (Gloves for a Tiger) in 1937 when he was 29, but he’d been selling poetry for years before that. He spent the rest of the 1930s and the beginning of the pre-war 40s making a name for himself selling tons of Jim Mayo stories. Definitely NOT a newbie at 40.