Operation Backlog Completion 2026

2021 Writing Goals

 Writing  3 Responses »
Jan 062021
 

Once again, I’m ready to make a new list of writing goals for the upcoming year!

By 2022, I will:

  • Send out regular batches of queries for my novels in the querying stage.
  • Finish editing A Prince’s Price based on feedback.
  • Revise Mage’s Test.
  • Revise The Sunken Sapphire.
  • Write at least 1 new pulp fiction story and 3 additional short stories.
  • Increase traffic to my side websites 500+ visits per month.

That’s right, no book signing goals for this year – things are too uncertain for that to really be in my hands right now.

I hope to make good progress toward those editing goals, though. I started out by ranking my WIPs based on how marketable they seem and how extensive the required revisions will be and then prioritized them accordingly, which is how those three ended up at the top of the list. Ending the year with all three fully revised would be fantastic.

And of course, I’ll write a new novel draft in November for NaNoWriMo, as I do every year!

Do you have any writing goals for 2021? Let me know in the comments!

2020 Writing Goal Progress

 Writing  4 Responses »
Dec 282020
 

2020 is coming to a close, and I set certain writing goals for myself at the start of the year.

So how did it go, in this crazy year? Let’s take a look back at those goals…

  • Send out regular batches of queries for the novels I have in the querying stage.
  • Complete my current pulp fiction story and write at least one more pulp fiction story.

I met these two goals without a problem. I spent a lot of time querying agents about Penteract of Blood and The Nightbringer in particular. No success this year, but I did get one full request, even if it ultimately ended in rejection.

Meanwhile, I finished the pulp fiction story I had in progress at the start of the year and then wrote another one. I hope to share news about both of those stories in 2021!

  • Revise On An Island of Oaks and send it to a beta reader.
  • Edit The Sunken Sapphire.

On the other hand, I dropped the ball when it came to these goals, mainly because I underestimated how much work On An Island of Oaks needed. Instead of revising it and sending it to a beta reader, I nearly completely rewrote it twice, which left little time to work on revising any other novels.

I’m pleased with its current state now. It still needs more revisions, but not to the point of becoming next year’s major project again.

  • Write at least 3 more short stories.
  • Update my two side websites on at least a monthly basis.

These next two goals are in a gray area. If you count the previously-mentioned pulp fiction stories, I definitely wrote three short stories this year. If you don’t (and I can’t remember what I had in mind when I made the list), then I only wrote one new short story, but made some solid revisions to a few others.

(I also made notes for several new story ideas.)

As for the websites, I stayed fairly consistent with regular updates at Lovecraft Video Games, but my KH Theories updates were much more sporadic.

And that brings us to our final unfortunate goal…

  • Participate in an additional book signing/event.

Obviously this didn’t happen, because large in-person gatherings were not a thing this year. Here’s hoping for a better 2021.

Did you set any writing goals at the start of the year? How did you do? Let me know in the comments!

Celebrating All Things Spooky 2020

 Celebrating All Things Spooky, My Games, My Stories, Video games, Writing  4 Responses »  Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,
Oct 022020
 

October is here, and so it’s time to begin our annual celebration of all things spooky, creepy, and otherwise fitting for the month of Halloween.

Celebrating All Things Spooky returns this year with a month of sales, contest opportunities, and horror game reviews!

Sales

First up, for the entire month of October, ebook copies of my horror stories The Book at Dernier and It Came Back will be on sale for $0.99 each at Amazon.

The Book at Dernier follows a scholar as his obsessive research leads him into a world of dark rituals, eldritch knowledge, and growing madness. It Came Back sees a young woman return to her childhood home, where she discovers a series of letters that recount her family’s dark secret as a demon begins to stalk her nightmares.

My other stories and my zombie comedy The Zombie Mishap are not on sale, but you can check them all out here.

Next, last October I wrote the script for a horror visual novel called Not It, set on Halloween in a small town where it is said that a serial killer’s spirit returns each Halloween to exact revenge. It’s available for free, so be sure to check it out!

I’ve worked on a handful of other horror games as well, and you can find them all here.

Contest

Moving on, it’s time for our Celebrating All Things Spooky 2020 contest!

This year, the available prizes are:

  • Two Till Midnight (gift sent through Steam)
  • Alien: Isolation (gift sent through Steam)
  • Those Who Remain (gift sent through Steam)
  • Dead Age (Steam code)
  • Five Nights at Freddy’s: Sister Location (Steam code)
  • Lakeview Cabin Collection (Steam code)
  • eBook copy of The Book at Dernier
  • eBook copy of It Came Back
  • $15 sent through PayPal
  • You pick a game for me to review!

If you choose the review option, your chosen game must be something either I already own or is easily obtainable, which you can discuss with me beforehand. It must be a single game, not a collection (although the chosen game can be part of a collection). I will start playing it in November.

Rules:

  • No purchase is necessary.
  • Only comments made between October 2, 2020 at 12:01 AM EST and October 31, 2020 at 11:59 PM EST will be counted.
  • 1 non-spam, non-anonymous comment on any blog post here = 1 point.
  • 1 non-spam, non-anonymous comment on a Celebrating All Things Spooky blog post = 2 points.
  • You must use an email address or website URL (or include another way of contacting you) in your comment so I can contact you if you win.
  • You must have at least 10 points at the end of the month to win.
  • The person with the most points will get their first pick of the prizes. The person with the second most points will pick second, and so on, until all prizes have been given out.
  • The winner will be contacted by November 2, 2020.

Remember, you have between now and Halloween to earn enough points to win a free horror game or one of the other prizes.

Reviews

And as usual, this October will be filled with horror game reviews, so check back throughout the week for 2020’s celebration of horror!

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